Elizabethan Literature and William Shakespeare

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards reviewing the Elizabethan era, literary terms, and William Shakespeare's life, plays, and poetic works based on lecture notes.

University Wits

A group of educated, witty young playwrights from Oxford and Cambridge Universities who emerged during the Elizabethan era.

An Age of Original Romanticism

A designation given to the Elizabethan period because of its literature's distinct tendency toward remote, wonderful, and beautiful aspects.

Revenge

The central theme of tragedy plays written during the Elizabethan period.

"A good face is the best letter of recommendation"

A famous quotation attributed to Queen Elizabeth.

William Shakespeare

England's national poet and foremost Elizabethan dramatist (April 23, 1564 – April 23, 1616), born in Stratford-on-Avon, who authored 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and 3 narrative poems.

Shakespearean Age

The literary era spanning from 1590 to 1616, covering the approximately 26 years of Shakespeare's active writing career.

Bard of Avon

A traditional title given to William Shakespeare referring to his birthplace in Stratford-on-Avon.

Poet of Human Nature

The title bestowed upon William Shakespeare by Dr. Samuel Johnson.

Iambic Pentameter

The poetic meter featuring five-foot lines or ten syllables per line, used by Shakespeare in the composition of most of his plays.

Tragi-comedy

The dramatic genre innovated by William Shakespeare combining tragic and comic elements.

The Tempest

Shakespeare's final play, recognized as his swan song, categorized among his 15 comedies.

Titus Andronicus (1594)

Shakespeare's first written tragedy among his total of 12 tragedies.

The Spanish Tragedy

A play by Thomas Kyd that Shakespeare is believed to have imitated when composing Hamlet.

The Jew of Malta

A drama by Christopher Marlowe imitated by Shakespeare in the creation of The Merchant of Venice.

Shylock

The Jewish moneylender character whose story is depicted in Shakespeare's comedy The Merchant of Venice.

Othello

A Shakespearean tragedy centered on a Moorish general who elopes with Desdemona and presents her with a handkerchief.

The Comedy of Errors

A Shakespearean comedy characterized by the presence of a Twin Hero and Twin Servant.

Bhrantibilash

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar's Bengali translation of William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors.

Mukhra Romoni Boshikoron

Munier Choudhury's Bengali translation of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew.

Earl of Southampton

The patron to whom William Shakespeare dedicated his two narrative poems, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece.

Venus and Adonis

The narrative poem through which Shakespeare first achieved widespread fame as a poet.

Timon of Athens

An unfinished play by William Shakespeare, cataloged among his 12 tragedies.

Love's Labour's Won and The History of Cardenio

The two lost plays of William Shakespeare.

The Passionate Pilgrim and A Phoenix and The Turtle

Two famous non-dramatic poems written by William Shakespeare.

Five Acts

The structural division into which Shakespeare's plays are universally arranged.