Shakespearean Drama Literary Terms

1. Shakespearean Drama Literary Terms Meter: the rhythmical pattern of a poem. This pattern is determined by the number and types of stresses, or beats, in each line. To describe the meter of a poem, you must scan its lines. Scanning involves marking the stressed and unstressed syllables.

2. Shakespearean Drama Literary Terms 1A. (add this to your paper) PROSE the ordinary form of written language, without metrical structure, as distinguished from poetry or verse. But remember: this is NOT blank verse! Example from Act 1:

3. Shakespearean Drama Literary Terms 2. Alliteration: the repetition of initial consonant sounds. Writers use alliteration to give emphasis to words, to imitate sounds, and to create musical effects.

4. Shakespearean Drama Literary Terms 3. Foil: a character in a story that acts in a drastically different way than the main protagonist in order to show the strong differences between the characters.

5. Shakespearean Drama Literary Terms 4. Speaker: the imaginary voice assumed by the writer of a poem. In many poems the speaker is not identified by name. When reading a poem, remember that the speaker within the poem may be a person, an animal, a thing, or an abstraction.

6. Shakespearean Drama Literary Terms 5. Major character: a character that plays a major role in the story but is not necessarily the main character (protagonist). Most major characters are round characters.

7. Shakespearean Drama Literary Terms 6. Minor character: the character(s) in a story who are not the main point of the story (for instance, not the person who the story is happening TO), but still interact with or grab the attention of those main characters. Most minor characters are flat characters.

8. Shakespearean Drama Literary Terms 7. Stock character: a fictional character based on a common literary or social stereotype. Stock characters rely heavily on cultural types or names for their personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics. Stock characters make easy targets for parody, which will likely exaggerate any stereotypes associated with these characters.

9. Shakespearean Drama Literary Terms 8. Monologue: a speech by one character in a play, story, or poem.

10. Shakespearean Drama Literary Terms 9. Personification: a type of figurative language in which a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics.

11. Shakespearean Drama Literary Terms 10. Pun: the humorous use of a word or phrase so as to emphasize or suggest its different meanings or applications, or the use of words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning, a play on words.

12. Shakespearean Drama Literary Terms 11. Dramatic irony: when the audience (reader)knows something the character(s) do not.

13. Shakespearean Drama Literary Terms 12. Soliloquy: a long speech expressing the thoughts of a character alone on stage.

14. Shakespearean Drama Literary Terms 13. Aside: a short speech delivered by an actor in a play; expressing the character’s thoughts. Traditionally, the aside is directed to the audience and is presumed to be inaudible to the other actors.

15. Shakespearean Drama Literary Terms 14. Imagery: the descriptive or figurative language used in literature to create word pictures for the reader. These pictures, or images, are created by details of sight, sound, taste, touch, smell or movement.

16. Shakespearean Drama Literary Terms 15. Tragedy: a work of literature, especially a play, that results in a catastrophe for the main character(s).

17. Shakespearean Drama Literary Terms 16. Denotation: The direct meaning of a word or phrase; a word that signifies something specific.

18. Shakespearean Drama Literary Terms 17. Connotation: The suggesting of different meanings by a word or expression apart from its literal meaning that is suggested or implied.