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My first favorite book was the Sir John Gilbert (illustrator) Shakespeare, a heavy blue tome published in the 1800's. I think I loved it because no adult I knew ever had any interest in Shakespeare and no one ever suggested I read him. My older brother and sister loved to devise costumes and act out scenes from the plays on a remote Montana farm with no television, but lots of inherited classic books. I would join them as soon as I could read so I was motivated. I have no idea how they discovered Shakespeare.
I don't suppose I had much idea what I was reading. I was thrilled to discover we also had an old red-covered Charles and Mary Lamb Shakespeare which I read in order to better grasp what was going on in the Gilbert Shakespeare.
I loved the sound and rhythm of Shakespeare's language. My youngest brother begged me to read Vachel Lindsay's The Congo to him daily for years (until he wanted to constantly recite it to me) because he loved its rhythm. I'm pretty sure I learned from Shakespeare how to read it in a way that captured his devotion. We did not understand the nuances of the poem, nor could we critique it. We just liked how it sounded.
My point is that children are capable of loving classics and even archaic language. Problems seem to arise when it is someone else's idea that they read them. Random discovery is so much better, but that can best happen with a library of print books and no television or game distractions. My own children never loved Shakespeare and I'm afraid it is because I and their teachers thought that they should. Also they had television and Dungeons and Dragons.
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