R&J literary devices quiz

Act / Scene

🎭 Shakespearean dramas were broken into five acts, which address the five fictional elements of the narrative structure: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. A new scene means a new place (which in the theatre = moving the set pieces).

Aside

🗣️ This is when a character makes a comment that is intended to be heard by the audience but not the other character(s) on stage.

Soliloquy

💭 A speech that a character makes when alone to allow the audience to know the character's thoughts.

Foil

✨ A character whose qualities sharply contrast with those of another character. A writer might use a foil to emphasize or de-emphasize another character's traits.

Sonnet

📜 A type of poetic writing with the following characteristics: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG (14 total lines), Quatrain (4×3 Couplet), 10 syllables per line, Iambic pentameter (Iamb = group of two, pent = five).

Dramatic Irony

🤫 A technique used to create suspense where the audience knows something that the character(s) doesn't.

Foreshadowing

🔮 Language that subtly hints at what will happen in the future.

Oxymoron

🤯 A phrase consisting of words that seem opposite in meaning. Example: beautiful tyrant.

Pun

😂 A form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect (Basically, a dad joke!).

Metaphor

🖼️ A comparison that is accomplished by saying that something IS something else. Example: The world's a stage.

Language

🗣️ Generally, this means through the reading of R&J, gain a basic literary literacy with reading Shakespeare's language. Be familiar with common pronouns, verbs, & prepositions in order to help reading fluency.