Romeo And Juliet: Poetry And Dramatic Terms

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Alliteration

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the repetition of consonant sounds at teh beginning of words

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allusion

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a reference to something in literature or history

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apostrophe

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speaking to someone or somethign that cannot hear or respond; a person talking to a plant, their car or computer

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aside

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a comment made by a character to the audience or another character but not heard by the other characters on stage

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blank verse

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poetry or lines of dramatic verse written in unrhymed iambic pentameter

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chance happening

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an unlikely or unexpected event or occurence which alters the outcome of the situation; coincidence

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comic relief

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a humorour sene or incident in an otherwise serious or tragic work. Comic relief freaks the tension yet emphasizes teh unfolding tragedy

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compression

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condensation of time; events that take place over the course of five days in real time are condensed into a two hour play

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dramatic irony

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a contrast between what a character believes to be true and what the audience or reader knows is true

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fate

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a power beyond human control that is held to determine what happens

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foreshadowing

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the use of clues in a story to prepare readers for upcoming events or to suggest the story's outcome

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hyperbole

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exaggeration for effect

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imagery

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describes something in terms of one of the five senses

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metaphor

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a direct comparision of unlike things

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onomatopoeia

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the use of words that sound like their meaning

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oxymoron

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a figure of speech consisting of two seemingly contradictory terms

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personification

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something non-human is given human characteristics

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prologue

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a speech, often in verse, addressed to the audience by an actor or chorus at the beginning of a play; introduction

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pun

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play on words, can include words with multiple meanings or words with different meaning sbut similar sounds

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simile

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a comparison of unlike things using the words like or as

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soliloquy

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a long speech revealing the emotions and thoughts of a character who is alone on stage

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sonnet

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a lyric poem of 14 lines (3 quatraings and 1 couplet), written in iambic pentameter with an abab cdcd efef gg rhyme scheeme

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tragedy

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a play in which a main character, called the tragic hero, suffers a downfall

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tragic flaw

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character trait that leads to a hero's downfall

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tragic hero

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protagonist who, because of outside forces or a tragic flaw, suffers a downfall