AP Lit - Shakespeare, Vocab List

Semester One

bard

a lyric poet

Renaissance

a fervent period of European cultural, artistic, political and economic "rebirth" following the Middle Ages

humor

temperament (within the humoral system of personalities) / a mood or state of mind

early modern

the dynamic period of cultural exchange within and between different regions of the world from the 14th to the 18th centuries

Elizabethan

relating to or characteristic of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I

Jacobean

relating to or characteristic of the reign of King James I of England

primogeniture

right of inheritance belonging exclusively to the eldest son

blank verse

verse without rhyme, especially that which uses iambic pentameter

dramaturgy

the theory and practice of dramatic composition

verse

literature in metrical form

prose

ordinary writing as distinguished from verse

soliloquy

an act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers, especially by a character in a play

aside

a remark or passage in a play that is intended to be heard by the audience but unheard by one or more characters in the play

iamb

a metrical foot consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable

pun

a humorous play on words

Middle English

the English language from c. 1150 to c. 1470

Modern English

the English language from the late 14th century on

Old English

the earliest form of the English language which was spoken and written in Anglo-Saxon Britain from c. 450 CE until c. 1150

chivalry

the medieval principles governing knightly conduct

divine right

the doctrine that kings derive their right to rule directly from God and are not accountable to their subjects; rebellion is the worst of political crimes

regicide

the act of killing a king

spectacle

an elaborate and remarkable display on a lavish scale

anachronism

locating something at a time when it couldn’t have existed

folio

an individual leaf of paper or parchment occurring either loosely as one of a series or forming part of a bound volume

quarto

a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves