Literary Terms and Figurative Language

Literary Terms and Figurative Language Ms. Mathews 9th Grade English

Poetic Terms Specific to and Important to Understanding Shakespearean Plays

Alliteration • The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words • Example using the h sound: “The angels, not half so happy in Heaven, Went envying her and me;” -Edgar Allan Poe, from “Annabel Lee”

Anaphora • The repetition of words at the beginning of neighboring sentences, which gives them additional emphasis

Apostrophe • An address to a person or personified object not present

Assonance • The repetition of vowel sounds • Example: “About the town the owl could not be found.” • “About” • “Town” • “Owl” • “Found”

Blank Verse • 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)

Consonance • The repetition of consonant sounds in close proximity, as in a sentence or a line • Example: “The archetypal arachnid attacked the critical acrobat’s katydid.”

Enjambment • 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.”

Epithet • 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.

Extended Metaphor • 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

Motif • Any recurring element in a story that has a symbolic meaning

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

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

Dramatic Terms

Tragedy • 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.

Stage Directions • 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.

Dialogue • 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

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

Monologue • A speech presented by a single character to an audience of any number of people.

Soliloquy • 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.

Literary Terms and Figurative Language