Romeo Juliet Literary Terms Drama a story written

Romeo & Juliet Literary Terms

Drama a story written to be performed by actors

Soliloquy a long speech expressing the thoughts of a character alone on stage

Monologue a speech by one character in a play, story, or poem l

Prologue an opening speech that introduces the play’s main characters, plot, and setting l

Tragedy l a work of literature, especially a play, that results in a catastrophe for the main character.

Tragic hero la character of noble birth with the potential for greatness, but due to a tragic flaw in his character makes an error in judgment that leads to his death

Aside a short speech delivered by an actor in a play traditionally directed at the audience. l

Comic Relief a technique that is used to interrupt a serious part of a literary work by introducing a humorous character or situation. l

Dialogue l a conversation between characters

Blank Verse lpoetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter

Dramatic Foil la character that provides a contrast to another character – opposites

Suspense la feeling of uncertainty about the outcome of events in a story – a way to keep the reader interested

Dramatic Irony when a reader knows something that a character doesn’t know l

Pun l Shakespeare loved to use them. ¡Humorous use of a word with two meanings > sometimes missed by the reader because of Elizabethan language and sexual innuendo

Prose l. Ordinary writing that is not poetry, drama, or song ¡Only characters in the lower social classes speak this way in Shakespeare’s plays ¡Why do you suppose that is?

Sonnets l. A fourteen line lyric poem, usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter l Topics: ¡ Love ¡ Friendship ¡ Mortality ¡ Immortality of poetry

Iambic Pentameter A series of five stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry l

Couplet la pair of rhyming lines in poetry

That completes our notes on literary terms. Now we will discuss sonnets more in depth.

Sonnets l. A sonnet consists of three quatrains and one couplet

Sonnets l. A quatrain is a series of four rhymed lines

Sonnets ¡First quatrain: the subject is revealed and why it is loved is explained ¡Second quatrain: describe what is special about the subject – be descriptive and imaginative ¡Third Quatrain: A problem arises with loving the subject

Sonnets l. A couplet is a series of two rhymed lines l Summarizes and leaves the reader with a new, concluding image

Sonnets l. Rhyme Scheme – a pattern of rhyme in a poem l. Sonnet Rhyme Scheme: ABAB/CDCD/EFEF/GG

Sonnets l. Iambic Pentameter: five beats of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables (“da. DUH”); ten syllables per line. Meter means rhythm.

Sonnets “Who’s wood / these are / I think / I know /his house” “Is in / the village / though he / will not / mind me / stopping”