TERMS TO KNOW FOR UNIT ON SHAKESPEARE’S ROMEO AND JULIET Drama Literary Terms

Aside FOR THE AUDIENCE!! Short phrases spoken by a character in a play, usually in an undertone The audience understands that the words aren’t heard by other characters Aside Hamlet is talking to the audience about why he does not want to kill his uncle while he is praying

Blank Verse 10 syllables of IAMBIC PENTAMETER where the ends of the lines don’t rhyme Unrhymed Iambic Pentameter Blank Verse These are the gardens of the Desert, these The unshorn fields, boundless and beautiful, For which the speech of England has no name— The Prairies. I behold them for the first, And my heart swells, while the dilated sight

Greek Chorus There is no Greek Chorus in a Shakespearean play – they are replaced by the ASIDE A group of performers who stood outside the action (in Greek plays) They commented on characters actions and hinted at events to come Chorus

Comedy OPPOSITE of TRAGEDY - has a happy ending, usually involving marriages between the unmarried characters, and a tone and style that is more light- hearted Comedy

Couplet two RHYMING lines! Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme Where-e'er you find "the cooling western breeze," In the next line, it "whispers through the trees;" If crystal streams "with pleasing murmurs creep," The reader's threatened (not in vain) with "sleep." Couplet

Dialogue conversation - Conversation between characters in a drama Dialogue

Drama Meant to be acted! - a dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a stage Drama

Dramatic structure Shakespearean Dramatic Structure - The structure of a play (acts & scenes) Dramatic structure Act 1 Act 2 Act 3 Act 4 Act 5

Iambic meter One iamb = two syllables Metric verse consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable da DUM Iambic meter One IAMB

Iambic pentameter 5 meters x 2 da dums = 10 Five verse feet with each foot an iamb (a total of ten syllables) Five da DUMS Iambic pentameter

Irony It doesn’t seem like these ads should be so close!! A literary technique that portrays differences between appearance and reality; the opposite of what is expected. Irony

Dramatic Irony We know something she doesn’t know!! When the audience knows something that the characters don’t Dramatic Irony

Situational Irony It seems that the psychics would have foreseen this! A contrast between what is expected and what really happens is called situational irony Situational Irony

Verbal Irony They say the opposite of what they mean!! - the contrast between what is said and what is meant. Verbal Irony

Monologue Sandra Bullock is making a speech to a guy in a coma. A long, uninterrupted speech presented in front of other characters Monologue

Motivation How SHOULD the actor act his/her part? A reason that explains or partially explains a character’s thoughts, feelings, actions, or behaviors in a certain way Motivation

Oxymoron a figure of speech that combines apparently contradictory terms contradictions

Pun That’s so punny! The humorous use of a word or phrase to suggest two or more meanings at the same time Pun

Sol iloquy Hamlet is alone on the stage – speaking to the skull of his childhood friend– Yorick a speech in which a character is alone (SOLO) on stage and expresses his/her thoughts out loud for the benefit of the audience. Sol iloquy

Tragedy Opposite of a COMEDY! A Dramatic work that presents the downfall of a dignified character involved in historically or socially significant events Tragedy

Verse VERSE VS. PROSE - Poetry: literature written in metrical form, using figurative language POETRY = VERSE Synonyms!! They mean the same thing!! Verse

Sonnet There are many kinds of sonnets but they all have 14 lines!! A fourteen-line poem, written in iambic pentameter, with one of several rhyme schemes Sonnet This shows a Shakespearean Rhyme scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

24 Iambic Pentameter Iambic Pentameter is the rhythm and meter in which poets and playwrights wrote in Elizabethan England. It is a metre that Shakespeare uses.

25 Heartbeat. Quite simply, it sounds like this: dee DUM, dee DUM, dee DUM, dee DUM, dee DUM. It consists of a line of five iambic feet, ten syllables with five unstressed and five stressed syllables. It is the first and last sound we ever hear, it is the rhythm of the human heart beat.

26 Pentameter? Well an ‘iamb’ is ‘dee Dum’ – it is the heart beat. Penta is from the Greek word for five. Meter is really the pattern Sooooooooooo, there are five iambs per line! (Iambic penta meter )

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Tragic Flaw What is Romeo’s TRAGIC FLAW?? What is Romeo’s TRAGIC FLAW?? - Fatal error in judgment or weakness in a character that leads to his or her destruction Tragic Flaw

Tragic Hero DOOMED! - Protagonist or main character in a tragedy; doomed characters who face defeat with great courage and dignity Tragic Hero

Foil - A character who sets off another character by contrast Harry Potter’s foil is Draco Malfoy George’s foil is Lennie Foil George’s OPPOSITE

Epithet descriptive information - A descriptive adjective or phrase used to characterize someone or something Epithet

Allusion a reference in one work of literature to a person, place or event in another work of literature or in history, art, or music. Allusion Mickey Mouse is giving acting instructions to a character who is playing the part of Ahab, a historical figure – that historical figure is the ALLUSION A picture can be an allusion