History Report- Week 2

This is my week 2 history report. It's kind of long, but it's fun!!!

Greetings everyone! My name is Sue and today, I’m going to talk about English words. Especially I’m going to talk about figure of speeches, riddles and finally, Shakespeare

First of all, I will talk about figure of speeches. Figure of speeches are when you say one thing but mean another. I will give you some examples. First, “Kick the bucket,” It basically means to die. In the middle ages a person might have tried to commit suicide by standing on a bucket then tying a rope around their neck with the end of the rope attached to the ceiling above. When they kicked the bucket away, they hanged themselves. Well I think because I’ve never tried to hang myself!

Second, “Done in cold blood.” It means to be done with no feeling.  It is said for thousands of years, people believed that your blood temperature controls your temper. That’s where the “cold blood” came from. So ancient people thought that cold-blooded people had no temper. If a cold-blooded person harmed you they did it in a calm, cruel and calculating manner.

This is actually salt

Third, “Not worth your salt”. In Roman times salt was a rare and precious mineral-like gold. So salt was money. If people say they didn’t get their salt, it means they didn’t get their pay. Salt comes from a Latin word and people today are still paid a salary- a word really meaning salt. Often figure of speeches were from another country like Greece. Most words of English are from Latin too.

Secondly, I will talk about riddles. First let me start with a good riddle.

Often I go to war with the waves and fight against the wind, I fight against both of them when I’m buried by the foam and go to seek the earth. My homeland is foreign to me. If I stay still then I am mighty in the battle. If I flee from their pulling then I have failed. They want to carry off the thing that I keep safe. I defeat them if my tail hold strong and the stones of the earth hold me up firmly. What is my name??? Do you get it? Anyone?? It’s an anchor.

Riddles are one of the oldest word games, the book says. Personally, I love riddles a lot. Riddles are like a question that needs to be solved using your brain and reasoning apart from mere guessing. Riddles use several strategies that give them a certain twist, which is not all that easy to guess. These days, people think riddles are old fashioned so they don't use them anymore. I think people should use more riddles.

Finally, I will talk briefly about Shakespeare. Shakespeare was born on April 26, 1564 and it is assumed that he was born on April 23, 1564. In 1582 at age eighteen, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway. Shakespeare left Stratford, where he lived for London to make his fortune roughly fours years later. Shakespeare headed to London sometime in 1586. By 1595, Shakespeare was successful to be named as one of the more senior members of the Lord Chamberlain's men, an acting company that performed frequently before court. By 1596, Shakespeare was so successful as a playwright that his family was finally granted a Coat of Arms, which amongst other things allowed Shakespeare to call himself a "gentleman".

Romeo and Juliet

Although William Shakespeare is recognized as one of literature’s greatest influences, but very little is actually known about him. Surprisingly for the world's greatest playwright, people actually know very little about Shakespeare's life. I think for me, before I read this, I really didn't know about him, accept his plays such as Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer-Night's Dream, The Merry Wives of Windsor, etc.

Shakespeare

The Shakespeare we read today might be a fake though. Amazingly, no original manuscripts survive reflecting the fact that many of these manuscripts were written purely for performance and were not regarded as pieces of literary work. There is also no general evidence on when all the plays were first performed. It might surprise readers to know that many of Shakespeare's plays, especially in the experimental period were hardly original, borrowing plot features from earlier plays. Still, borrowing plots and taking liberties with historical facts was not uncommon in Shakespeare's time and his skill for language, imagery, and his creative adaption of myth and history have set Shakespeare apart as the greatest playwriting.