Terms to Know - Arden of Faversham

iambic pentameter

a metrical pattern consisting of five iambic feet (an unstressed syllable, followed by a stressed syllable) per line; the meter most similar to spoken English; the meter of sonnets, and of most of the poetry in Early Modern plays. 

blank verse

unrhymed iambic pentameter and the meter closest to the natural rhythms of spoken English.  Most of the poetry in Early Modern plays is written in blank verse, and Milton's Paradise Lost is in blank verse, as well.  In Renaissance drama, the “noble” characters tend to speak in poetry (blank verse), while the ignoble characters speak in prose. 

tragedy

[ancient / classical definition] a story that presents courageous individuals who confront powerful forces (within or outside themselves) with a dignity that reveals the breadth and depth of the human spirit in the face of failure, defeat, and even death.  _____ recount an individual’s downfall; they usually begin high and end low.

domestic tragedy

a genre that became popular in the Renaissance in which the tragic protagonists are ordinary middle-class or lower-class individuals, in contrast to ancient / classical tragedy, in which the protagonists are of kingly or aristocratic rank and their downfall is an affair of state as well as a personal matter

broadside

a descriptive or narrative verse or song, commonly in a simple ballad form, on a popular theme, and sung or recited in public places or printed on broadsides (large, single-sheet pieces of paper) for sale in the streets, popular in the Renaissance.

sermon

(also known as a homily)
an address by a religious figure to the laity for their instruction, usually as part of the mass (church service)

antithesis

words, phrases, clauses, or sentences set in deliberate contrast to one another

suspense

the anxious anticipation of an audience as to the outcome of a narrative, especially concerning the character or characters with whom sympathetic attachments are formed

foreshadowing

the introduction early in a narrative of verbal and dramatic hints that suggest what is to come later

figures of speech

ways of using language that deviate from the literal, denotative meanings of words in order to suggest additional meanings or effects.  Figures of speech say one thing in terms of something else

simile

a figure of speech that makes an explicit comparison between two dissimilar things by using words such as like, as, than, appears, and seems

metaphor

a figure of speech that compares two unlike things, without using a comparison-word such as like or as

hyperbole

a figure of speech that exaggerates to add emphasis without intending to be literally true

irony

a literary device that uses contradictory statements or situations to reveal a reality different from what appears to be true

epilogue

a section or speech at the end of a book or play that serves as a comment on or a conclusion to what has happened