David Crystal Explains the Voice of Shakespeare

Accents in all languages have changed over the centuries. So what did English sound like in Shakespeare's day? Was it like the "Queen's English" and BBC accent of today? No, it wasn't, according to linguistics expert David Crystal.

Just as I thought, linguists turned to the poetry of Shakespeare to infer the accent with which he spoke.  Years ago my poetry professor Mary Kinzie referred to love and prove as a sight rhyme, but Crystal points out that prove sounded more like love in the time of Shakespeare.  So apparently it was an actual rhyme.