Romeo and Juliet - Critical Terms and Literary Devices

Flashcards for key vocabulary and literary devices discussed in the lecture.

Figurative Language

Language that contains or uses figures of speech where the actual meaning differs from the literal meaning to create some effect.

Quatrain

A stanza or poem of four lines, usually with alternate rhymes.

Couplet

A literary device with two successive rhyming lines in a verse that has the same meter to form a complete thought.

Iambic Pentameter

A common meter in poetry consisting of a line with five feet or accents, each foot containing an unstressed syllable and a stressed syllable.

Extended Metaphor

A comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph or lines in a poem.

Sonnet

A poem, properly expressive of a single, complete thought or idea, of 14 lines.

Soliloquy

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

Pun

A play on words that produces a humorous effect by using a word that suggests two or more meanings, or by exploiting similar sounding words that have different meanings.

Hyperbole

Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally, but rather to emphasize the real situation.

Characterization

The creation or construction of a fictional character

Dynamic Character

A literary or dramatic character who undergoes an important internal change, such as a change in personality, attitude, outlook, emotion, etc.

Static Characterization

A literary or dramatic character who undergoes little or no internal change; a character who does not grow or develop.

Oxymoron

A phrase that contradicts itself or that is inappropriate/ doesn’t make sense for the context