Poetic Structure and Shakespearean Drama Elements

For Roundtable english 9th grd

Structure

Described in terms of stanza, form, and meter.

Stanza

A group of lines in a poem, considered a unit. Often, the stanzas in a poem are separated by spaces.

Repetition

The use of a sound, word, phrase, clause, or sentence more than once.

Rhythm

The arrangement, or pattern, of accented and unaccented syllables - the 'beat'.

Rhyme

The repetition of sounds at the end of words.

End Rhyme

When the rhyming words come at the ends of lines.

Internal Rhyme

Rhyming words appear in the same line in a poem.

Meter

The pattern of accented and unaccented syllables that form the basis of the poem's rhythm; meter signifies the number of rhythmic beats, or 'feet' in a line and the arrangement of accented and unaccented syllables in each foot. (i.e. - pentameter: a line with five beats, or feet)

Enjambment

(in verse) The continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.

Prose

Written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure.

Eye rhyme

Words whose spellings lead you to think that they rhyme

Shakespearean Sonnet

Consists of 3 quatrains and a couplet; a 14-lined poem, usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter

Quatrain

A stanza or poem made up of four lines with rhythm and rhyme.

Couplet

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

Iamb

One unstressed and one stressed syllable in a 5-foot line.

Blank Verse

Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. (Poetry that does not rhyme but has a line of five beats.)

Free Verse

Verse without a regular arrangement of accented and unaccented syllables

Apostrophe

The direct address of a person or a personified thing. It often interrupts the discussion. What it does: gives vent to, displays intense emotion.

Alliteration

The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of two or more words.

Allusion

A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art.

Metaphor

A figure of speech comparing one thing to another without using like or as

Extended Metaphor

A subject is spoken or written of as though it were something else, with several comparisons made.

Hyperbole

The use of exaggeration to emphasize the extreme to make a point.

Oxymoron

2 words that contradict each other placed together

Paradox

A statement that seems contradictory but is actually true.

Pun

A play on words based on the similarity of sound between words with different meanings.

Consonance

The repetition in two or more words of the final consonants in stressed syllables.

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds followed by different consonants in two or more stressed syllables.

Playwright

A person never created his own story and takes from old ones.

Acts

A Shakespearean play has 5 of these

Scene indication

To indicate a scene, lower case Roman numerals are used. Example: scene iii

Line indication

to indicate lines, Arabic numbers are used. Example: 3-33 (III, iii, 3-33-----This means Act Three, scene three, lines three through thirty-three)

Climax

This is the peak of the play and always occurs in Act III.

Rising Action

Events occurring in this part of the play are called complications result in the climax.

Falling Action

Events occurring in this part wrap up the climax and lead to the end of the play

Exposition

Creates the tone, gives the setting, introduces some of the characters, and supplies facts necessary for the understanding of the play.

Climax (in drama)

Always occurs in the third act of a Shakespearean drama. It is the turning point of the action where the action turns from good to bad.

Complications

Events which serve to further the climax or catastrophe.

Catastrophe

The tragic failure, usually the death, of the hero and comes as the natural outgrowth of the action.

Denouement

The resolution of the play where the tragedy is explained and a solution to the problem is given for future reference.

Tragedy

A drama which tells of an important and related series of events in the life of a person of significance.

Soliloquy

A speech of a character in a play is delivered while the speaker is alone on stage.

Aside

Words spoken by an actor to be heard by the audience only and not by the actors on the stage.

Dramatic Irony

The words or acts of a character in a play may carry meaning unknown to them, but understood by the audience.

Protagonist

The chief character in the play. He may have heroic qualities.

Antagonist

The chief opponent of the protagonist, his rival.

Fate

Circumstances that cannot be controlled by humans.

Tragic Flaw

A certain quality in a character's personality (usually in the protagonist's personality) that causes his downfall and ends in tragedy.

Free Will

The ability of a character in the play to make their own decisions and shape their future.

Pathos

The suffering of a character and the feeling that the audience has for the character.

Humorous Relief

The elements of humor in the play serve to relieve tension in the audience.

Chorus

The actor who sets the play's tone, introduces the characters, and/or explains the play's plot.