I don't think the problem with 17th century prose is density either. Rather, it's archaic vocabulary, idioms, and grammar. I've recently been reading through an anthology of English renaissance drama and my impression is that once you become acclimatized to the common archaic vocabulary and grammar, the idioms remain as biggest impediment to understanding. Consider:
> "Art thou in thy wits? I tell thee I must have a pair of shoes; dost thou mark me? A pair of shoes, two shoes, made by this very shoe, this same shoe, against tomorrow morning by four o'clock. Dost understand me? Canst thou do't?
He's asking for a pair of shoes, and questioning whether his request is understood. It's not a particularly complex or information dense paragraph, but it could be hard to understand if all of that archaic vocabulary is obscure to you. In many ways, this makes it very similar to your average bash script. Saying something simple, but made to seem complicated by archaic terminology.
I don't think the problem with 17th century prose is density either. Rather, it's archaic vocabulary, idioms, and grammar. I've recently been reading through an anthology of English renaissance drama and my impression is that once you become acclimatized to the common archaic vocabulary and grammar, the idioms remain as biggest impediment to understanding. Consider:
> "Art thou in thy wits? I tell thee I must have a pair of shoes; dost thou mark me? A pair of shoes, two shoes, made by this very shoe, this same shoe, against tomorrow morning by four o'clock. Dost understand me? Canst thou do't?
He's asking for a pair of shoes, and questioning whether his request is understood. It's not a particularly complex or information dense paragraph, but it could be hard to understand if all of that archaic vocabulary is obscure to you. In many ways, this makes it very similar to your average bash script. Saying something simple, but made to seem complicated by archaic terminology.