English Literary Elements

FOIL

A character who is contrasted with another character.

FORESHADOWING

The use of clues that suggest events that have yet to occur.

IAMB

The pattern (a metrical foot) made up of an unstressed and stressed syllable, respectively (dah DUM).

PENTAMETER

A line with five metrical feet.

OXYMORON

Conjoining contradictory terms

COUPLET

A pair of rhyming lines, usually of the same length and meter.  

HEROIC COUPLET

A pair of rhyming lines written in iambic pentameter and containing a complete thought.

PUN

A play on words based on different meanings of words that sound alike.

PERSONIFICATION

A type of figurative language in which a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics.

METAPHOR

A figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else.  A comparison between two unlike things with the intent of giving added meaning to one of them.

SIMILIE

A figure of speech in which like or as is used to make a comparison between two unlike subjects. 

SONNET

A fourteen-line lyric poem usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter.

ASIDE

A short speech (usually spoken in an undertone), expressing the character’s thoughts, directed to the audience but inaudible to other actors. 

BLANK VERSE

Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.

MONOLOGUE

 A speech by one character. It is a long and uninterrupted oration in the presence of others on stage.

PROTAGONIST

The main character in a literary work.