literary terms

Stage directions

italicized comments that identify parts of the setting or the use of props or costumes, give further information about a character, or provide background information.

Couplet

two lines of verse, usually in the same meter and joined by rhyme.

Volta

or turn, is a rhetorical shift or dramatic change in thought and /or emotion.

Soliloquy

a lengthy speech by one character who is talking to him- or herself.

Malapropism

the mistaken use of a word in place of a similar sounding word.

Allusion

a reference to a work of literature, an historical figure or time period in history, or to something in popular culture without directly mentioning it.

Oxymoron

a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction.

Meter

the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse.

Monologue

a lengthy speech by one character, addressed to other characters.

Sonnet

a 14- line poem written in iambic pentameter, with a set rhyme scheme (aabb, ccdd, eeff, gg)

Scene

a division of an act into smaller parts.

Tragedy

a serious work of drama in which the hero suffers catastrophe or serious misfortune, usually because of his own actions.

Quatrain

a stanza of four lines in a poem.

Chorus

a character whose job it is to introduce or summarize important information.

Stanza

the grouping of lines in a poem (couplets, quatrain, etc .)

Iambic pentameter

a line of poetry with five metric feet, each consisting of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable.

Dramatic foil

A dramatic foil is a character who is the exact opposite of another character.

Rhyme scheme

the pattern of rhyming sounds at the end of lines of poetry.

Verbal irony

to say one thing and mean the other.

Meter

a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry.

Meter

a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry

Malapropism

the mistaken use of a word in place of a similar sounding word

Aside

a short line delivered directly to the audience or to another character

Monologue

a lengthy speech by one character, addressed to other characters

Meter

the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse

Volta

or turn, is a rhetorical shift or dramatic change in thought and/or emotion

Sonnet

a 14-line poem written in iambic pentameter, with a set rhyme scheme (aabb, ccdd, eeff, gg)

iamb

one metric foot consisting of one unstressed and one stressed syllable, in that order

iambic pentameter

a line of poetry with five metric feet, each consisting of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable

Stanza

the grouping of lines in a poem (couplets, quatrain, etc.)

Quatrain

a stanza of four lines in a poem

Couplet

two lines of verse, usually in the same meter and joined by rhyme

Chorus

a character whose job it is to introduce or summarize important information

Scene

a division of an act into smaller parts

Rhyme scheme

the pattern of rhyming sounds at the end of lines of poetry

Act

a division within a play, much like chapters of a novel

Situational irony

to expect one thing and the opposite occur

Dramatic irony

This irony is developed when the audience knows something that the characters in the story do not know

Verbal irony

to say one thing and mean the other

Dramatic foil

A dramatic foil is a character who is the exact opposite of another character

Oxymoron

a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction

Stage directions

italicized comments that identify parts of the setting or the use of props or costumes, give further information about a character, or provide background information

Tragedy

a serious work of drama in which the hero suffers catastrophe or serious misfortune, usually because of his own actions