This year, I decided that I wanted to start reading more Old English books. I had tried a few years ago, but got discouraged because at the time it was too hard for me to understand. In the new year however, I felt ready to try again, and this time I was more successful.
Two out of three of my classes this semester are English literature classes, which means I get to not only read a lot of the classics, but I get to discuss them too. So far in class I’ve read Gulliver’s Travels by Johnathan Swift, Pamela by Samuel Richardson, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and Fantomina by Eliza Haywood. I’ve also read excerpts from The Odyssey (I read this entire book in high school and loved it, so it was nice to go back to it again), and The Spectator by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele. Being able to read these early English works and discuss them in class has helped me so much when it comes to my own personal and essay writing, as well as my vocabulary when speaking.
While reading these classic literature pieces, I’ve noticed that the way English was written and spoken during those times was so much more beautiful and articulate than how it is written and spoken now. Think of how they speak in the movie Pride and Prejudice or the TV show Bridgerton. Reading books that were written during this period made me realize how much the English language has lost its depth and meaning. Lines like, “Temptations are sore things; but yet without them, we know not our selves, nor what we are able to do” from Pamela, and, “The single Dress of a Woman of Quality is often the Product of a hundred Climates” from The Spectator, and not to mention “But I have outwitted even the most Subtle of the deceiving Kind, and while he thinks to fool me, is himself the only beguiled Person” from Fantomina, obtain such beautiful prose that it’s truly a wonder how we lost it as a society.
These works contain so many vocabulary words that have been lost or forgotten throughout the years, and I think it would be beneficial to start using them again, threading them back into our everyday lives. I’ve found that by reading these works of Old English, I have begun subconsciously using some of these words when taking notes for class or when I’m writing essays. So far, I feel as if it’s been making my writing and speaking skills stronger, so I highly recommend picking up an Old English text and seeing where it takes you.