Needles & Grooves

I figure that this is just a new skill that will take time to develop. Eventually I'll be able to read this stuff without relying on modern English summaries but for now it really helps.

The crazy thing is that back then most of the vowel sounds in English were different, but then there was the Great Vowel Shift, and the vowel sounds played musical chairs. But, since that was also when English spelling started to get standardized, the pronunciation changed more than the spelling, so reading it aloud helps us understand today, but it would have sounded quite different.

Reading aloud is the way to go. We had to memorize the prelude in high school English and it has stuck for 30 years lol.