1º Avanzado EOI Alcalá de Guadaíra

Thou, Thee, and Archaic Grammar
by A. Davies, R. Lipton, D. Richoux et al.

"Thou", "thee", "thine" and "thy" are pronouns that have dropped out of the main dialects of Modern English. During the period of Early Modern English (~1470-1700), they formed the Second Person Singular of the language, and were standardized by the time of the King James Bible as shown below.

Here are the conjugations from that era of two common irregular verbs:

to be - Present tense               to have - Present tense
I am                                             I have
thou art                                        thou hast
he/she/it is                                  he/she/it hath
we are                                          we have
ye are                                           ye have
they are                                        they have

You may have been told that "thou" and "thee" were for familiar use, and "you" and "ye" were formal. This was not true originally, but it was true for about two centuries, roughly 1450-1650, including Shakespeare's time. The previously plural "you" was used in the singular to signify politeness and respect, which left "thou" and "thee" for all the other singular uses, ranging from endearing intimacy to bitter rudeness. Eventually, the politer "you" drove out nearly all uses of "thee" and "thou"; they survived mostly in poetry and religion.

Several groups continue to use these pronouns today as part of their daily speech (although with different grammar), including residents of Yorkshire, Cumbria, the East Midlands, and some rural areas of Western England. Some Quakers also used their Plain Speech with "thee" and "thy" until the middle of the 20th century.

http://alt-usage-english.org/pronoun_paradigms.html

Would you be able to 'translate' this sonnet by W.Shakespeare into 21st Century English?

Sonnet 51

Thus can my love excuse the slow offence
Of my dull bearer when from thee I speed:
From where thou art why should I haste me thence?
Till I return, of posting is no need.
O! what excuse will my poor beast then find,
When swift extremity can seem but slow?
Then should I spur, though mounted on the wind,
In winged speed no motion shall I know,
Then can no horse with my desire keep pace.
Therefore desire, (of perfect'st love being made)
Shall neigh, no dull flesh, in his fiery race;
But love, for love, thus shall excuse my jade-
Since from thee going, he went wilful-slow,
Towards thee I'll run, and give him leave to go.  

If you think you can, please, post the 'translation' as a comment to this post.

Cheers!