Romeo and Juliet Literary Terms

Irony The difference between what we expect to happen and what actually happens.

Foreshadowing Hints about future plot twists.

Iambic Pentameter Lines of poetry that have 5 unstressed syllables, each followed by a stressed syllable.

Blank Verse A form of poetry that uses unrhymed lines; it comes nearest to the natural rhythms of English.

Aside A character’s remark either to the audience or another character that others on stage are not supposed to hear.

Soliloquy A speech that a character gives when he/she is alone on stage, to let the audience know what he/she (the character) is thinking.

Dramatic Conventions When the audience accepts something as realistic even though they know it to be false or untrue.

Foil A character whose personality or attitudes are in sharp contrast to those of another character; this highlights the other character’s traits or attitude.

Allusion Brief reference, in a work, to something outside the work that the reader or audience is expected to know.

Comic Relief A humorous scene, incident, or speech that relieves the overall emotional intensity.

Tragic Hero Usually someone who is nobly born and who may have great influence in his/her society. They also have one or more major character flaws.

Tragedy A drama that ends in catastrophe (it recounts events in the life of a person of significance).

Hyperbole A figure of speech in which the truth is exaggerated for emphasis or for humorous effect.

Epic simile A long, elaborate comparison that continues for a number of lines.

Extended metaphor a metaphor that continues for a number of lines in a literary work

Paradox A statement that seems to contradict itself but is, nevertheless, true.

Pun A joke that comes from a play on words.

Oxymoron A form of paradox that combines a pair of opposite terms into a single, unusual expression.

Apostrophe A form of personification in which the absent, or dead, are spoken to as if present.