ENG 112 BOLDED TERMS

acts

the sections into which a theatrical work has been divided, either by playwright or author

Scenes

a subdivision of an act or of a play not divided into acts. A scene normally represents actions happening in one place at one time, and is marked off from the next scene by a curtain, a black‐out, or a brief emptying of the stage

close reading

deep, thorough analysis of a text or text excerpt, usually based on patterns of specific details or textual elements

drama

the category of written work “intended for performance before an audience”(124)

dramatis personae

list of characters in a work of drama

appears before the play text (script/dialogue) begins

stage directions

The written but unspoken parts of a play text, sometimes provided by the playwright and sometimes by later editors, that describe gestures, stage action, or technical effects (set changes, music cues, etc.).

earnest

•serious, not frivolous; showing sincere and intense feeling or conviction; lacking playfulness

•demanding serious consideration; weighty, important

diction

the literary term for: word choice

in other words, the specific vocabulary or phrasing used in a given text or passage

etymology

the origins and history of a word, including its changing and dynamic definitions over time (plus the study of these origins)

e.g. the word “odor” and “reeks” have changed significantly in their meanings and connotations over time

realism

•works of realism feature accurate depictions of the everyday lives of their characters (or the place / society / period in which they live)

•works of realism reject the idealized, the improbable, the unnatural or supernatural

•works of realism often gives a sense of “local color”: “the customs, speech, dress, and living and working conditions of [the work’s] chosen locale”

structural racism

captures how “racism is not simply the result of private prejudices held by individuals, but is also produced and reproduced by laws, rules, and practices, sanctioned and even implemented by various levels of government, and embedded in the economic system as well as in cultural and societal norms.”

impacts of structural racism:

livelihoods/access to employment, fair & safe shelter, phsyical/mental/relationship wellbeing,

economic class ($$$)

How much money and material wealth do they have?

socio-economic class ($$$ PLUS education, occupation, background, etc.)

On top of their wealth (or lack thereof), what other social variables do they possess that support or complicate things? (education, occupation, gender, social standing, etc.)

satire

a kind of literature that ridicules with the intent of shaming the object of ridicule into improvement,

uses irony, wit, sarcasm, and other tactics to deflate the object of critique

the pastoral

a set of thematic conventions, in literature and other cultural forms, that idealize rural lifestyles à very fashionable at the time Shakespeare was writing

Pastoral conventions

•Shepherd characters (“Pastor” is Latin for “shepherd”)

•are also often lovers, poets, singers

•may be poor, but are kind and hospitable

•uneducated, especially in the ways of the court

•characters living “the simple life” in a country setting

•stories of city-dwellers who travel to the countryside

•philosophical debates, e.g. court vs. country

•pastoral elegies that mourn death

the pastoral (cont’d) writers

not actually written by shepherds or country folk (access to education) => written by court/city people

the pastoral (cont’d) audience/readership

appealed particularly to urban-dwellers – because:

•nostalgia for a bygone age – or for something they’ve never experienced

•a kind of escapism

•literacy

frame narrative

•a narrative that contains another narrative(s) within it

•usually explains or expresses the purpose of the embedded narrative