Salient Linguistic Features

 

Use of meter – 10 syllabi per line (iambic pentameter)

Use of rhyme – more/before, there/soe’er, flowers/bowers

Use of metaphor –

            Metaphors for love:

            Music is the food of love

            Appetite is desire

            Music is like the wind – stealing and giving odour

            Spirit of love is like the sea – can not be captured

            Cupid is the hunter of the heart

            Orsino is like a hart who was shot by cupid

            Olivia is like a nun – veiled

            Eye-offending brine = tears

            Tears are seasoning the remembrance of her brother

            Liver, brain and heart = body, mind and spirit

            Sweet beds of flowers = bed

Register – fairly formal but still whimsical – the scene takes place in a palace but revolves around a love sick Duke – highly educated characters but still “over the top” or exaggerated in their discussions about love.

 

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