L ITERARY T ERMS AND F IGURATIVE L ANGUAGE Ms. Mathews 9 th Grade English

P OETIC T ERMS S PECIFIC TO AND I MPORTANT TO U NDERSTANDING S HAKESPEAREAN P LAYS

A LLITERATION The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words Example using the h sound: “The angels, not h alf so h appy in H eaven, Went envying h er and me;” -Edgar Allan Poe, from “Annabel Lee”

A NAPHORA The repetition of words at the beginning of neighboring sentences, which gives them additional emphasis

A POSTROPHE An address to a person or personified object not present

A SSONANCE The repetition of vowel sounds Example: “About the town the owl could not be found.” “Ab ou t” “T ow n” “ Ow l” “F ou nd”

B LANK V ERSE Unrhymed poetry written in iambic pentameter Each line of blank verse has five pairs of syllables In most pairs, an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable Shakespeare’s plays are ALL written in blank verse; however, you will notice that portions of Romeo and Juliet are written in the Shakespearean Sonnet format (14 lines, iambic pentameter, specific rhyme scheme)

C ONSONANCE The repetition of consonant sounds in close proximity, as in a sentence or a line Example: “The ar ch etypal ara ch nid atta ck ed the c riti c al a c robat’s k atydid.”

E NJAMBMENT A poetic device where syllables, within lines of patterned verse, run over into subsequent lines, making the lines of regular verse “irregular.” Example: “I will not eat green eggs/ And ham, I will not eat them, Sam I Am.”

E PITHET A phrase that is commonly used to describe a certain individual or characteristic Example: To describe someone being “under the weather,” you are saying that the person is sick/ill.

E XTENDED M ETAPHOR A figure of speech Compares two essentially unlike things at some length and in several ways (2+ lines) Does not contain the words like or as

M OTIF Any recurring element in a story that has a symbolic meaning

O XYMORON A figure of speech that combines contradicting words Examples: Bitter sweet Forward retreat Serious joke Deafening silence

P UN A joke that comes from a play on words. Can make use of a words multiple meanings or of a word’s rhyme

D RAMATIC T ERMS

T RAGEDY A dramatic work that presents the downfall of a dignified character or characters who are involved in historically or socially significant events. The events in a tragic plot are set into motion by a decision that is often an error of judgment. Succeeding events are linked in a cause and effect relationship and lead inevitably to a disastrous conclusions, usually death.

S TAGE D IRECTIONS Instructions in a play which are often printed in italic type at the beginning of a play and at the beginning of acts and scenes.

D IALOGUE Written conversation between two or more characters Writers use dialogue to bring the characters to life and give readers insight into the characters’ qualities, personality traits, and reactions to other characters

A SIDE Dramatic device A character speaks his/her thoughts aloud Words are meant to be heard by the audience, but not by the other characters

M ONOLOGUE A speech presented by a single character to an audience of any number of people.

S OLILOQUY A long speech in which a character speaks to no one but themselves, thinking private thoughts aloud Generally, the character is on stage alone, speaking his/her thoughts aloud for the audience to hear.