Civ Lit Final - Slides

What is an epic?

long, narrative poems dealing with heroicsubjects, grand themes, and weighty issues

What are the 5 features of an epic?

Invocation to muse

begining in medias res

Focus on heroic figures

emphasis on titantic battles or long journies

descent into the underworld

Two features of tradgedy?

serious

sympatize with characters

Key features of tragic hero

plot begins in happiness and ends in misery, tragic hero is a noble/powerful person who brings about his own downfall by fatal flaw

What is terza rima?

Theree line stanzas called tercets in an ABA rhyme, then BCB, then CDC so on

What is contrapasso?

The punishement fits or contrasts the crime

What is blank verse?

Unrhymed iambic pentameter

What two forms does shakespere compose in?

Prose and blank verse

Key feature of Elizabethan theater that relates to dialouge

few props that cause characters to describe surroundings