Merchant of Venice Study Guide

Caesura

a natural pause, break, or stop in a line of poetry or music, often marked by punctuation or a shift in phrasing.

Comic Relief

a storytelling device that uses humor to break emotional tension or lighten the mood during a serious, dark, or tragic work

Deus ex machina

a plot device where an unexpected, and sudden event or character abruptly solves a seemingly impossible problem in a story

Double entendre

a figure of speech or phrase designed to have two distinct meanings.

Enjambment

a poetic technique where a sentence or phrase continues from one line to the next without any punctuation

End stop

a poetic term for a line of verse that finishes with a natural pause, complete phrase, or end punctuation

History Genre

A story that is an accurate reenactment of past events.

Tragedy Genre

A Story that focuses on human suffering

Comedy Genre

A story that is meant to entertain and amuse the audience

Heroic Couplet

a pair of rhyming lines of poetry written in iambic pentameter.

Iambic Pentameter

a line of poetry or verse with ten syllables arranged in five rhythmic units, or "feet,"

Monologue

a long, uninterrupted speech by a single person in a conversation, play, movie, or performance

Soliloquy

a device where a character speaks their private thoughts, feelings, and plans aloud, typically while alone on stage

Aside

a short remark or comment a character makes to the audience or to themselves that other characters on stage cannot hear

Quatrain

a four-line stanza or a complete four-line poem

Scansion

the analysis of a line of poetry to determine and represent its metrical pattern, rhythm, and structure

Shakespearean sonnet

a 14-line poem written in iambic pentameter with a specific three-quatrain and rhyming couplet structure

Volta

A dramatic shift in mood in a poem