Despite what some ignoramus may tell you, William Shakespeare did not write in Old English. Old English (now a dead language) is more Germanic than what we would call Modern English. Anyone who might try to read something in Old English (might I suggest the Epic poem Beowulf?) would be able to discern very little of it. The dictates of syntax and grammar in Old English are nothing like their modern counterparts.

Old English had many synonyms for oft-used words (there are over thirty words for "king"), likely the outcome of many years of using it to compose poetry. Unlike Modern English poetry, which primarily uses the rhyme, Old English poetry use the poetic device alliteration. Old English is a quite versatile language, allowing for different words to be combined together into new words in an even more intimate nature than the Modern English equivalent, compound words. Often these compounds are different combinations of the same compound elements, adapted for a particular context.