Crash Course Literature: Romeo and Juliet

Vocabulary flashcards covering literary sources, theatrical conventions, poetic structures, and key historical contexts for William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Romeo and Juliet

A tragedy written by William Shakespeare in 1595 or 1596 featuring one off-stage sex scene, seven on-stage fatalities, and the eventual resolution of a family feud through tragic sacrifice.

The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet

A 3,000-line narrative poem published in 1562 by Arthur Brooke that served as Shakespeare's immediate source material for Romeo and Juliet.

Arthur Brooke

The English author of The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet (1562), who framed the story as a cautionary tale of disobedient teenagers who deservedly suffered death for lust and filial neglect.

Cautionary tale

A narrative genre exemplified by Arthur Brooke's 1562 poem, which presented Romeus and Juliet's deaths as a moral punishment for unhonest desire, disobeying parents, and abusing lawful marriage.

Ovid's Metamorphosis

The classical literary work representing a long tradition of tragic romances from which Arthur Brooke and later Shakespeare drew source inspiration.

Petrarch

An Italian poet referenced by Mercutio whose love poems endorsed intense adoration and love at first sight, directly influencing Shakespeare's depiction of romance.

Holy shrine

A sacred metaphor used by Romeo to address Juliet during their first meeting, reflecting the polite courtship etiquette recommended in Shakespeare's day.

Good pilgrim

A sacred courtship metaphor used by Juliet in response to Romeo calling her a holy shrine, welcoming his flirtation within accepted social conventions.

Northrup Frye

The literary critic who observed that whenever Shakespeare wanted to write about the problems of feuding nobles, he set his plays in the distant past or in a land far, far away.

Verona, Italy

The distant Mediterranean setting Shakespeare used to safely examine sensitive political questions of loyalty to self, family, faith, and the state away from Elizabethan England.

Aristotelian tragedy

A dramatic structure described in the 5th century BCE where mostly good characters of noble extraction make an error and are brought low.

Star-crossed lovers

A literary convention dating far back in literature that allows authors to explore concepts of fate and free will while entertaining audiences.

Iamb

A poetic foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

Iambic pentameter

A poetic meter consisting of five iambic feet in a line, used to mirror and heighten the natural rhythms of English speech.

The Globe

A large Elizabethan theater partly open to the air and covered by a thatched roof, where Shakespeare's company typically performed.

The Curtain

An Elizabethan theater on the good side of the river Thames where Romeo and Juliet was likely originally staged, which was rediscovered in London by archaeologists.

The Wooden O

The descriptive phrase used by William Shakespeare to refer to the Curtain theater.

The pit

The standing area in an Elizabethan theater where less wealthy patrons stood for more than three hours to watch performances.

Galleries

Tiered benches in Elizabethan playhouses where patrons with sufficient money paid to sit with a good view of the stage.

Angel

A descriptive word that William Shakespeare used in Romeo and Juliet, making him the first person on record to use the term to describe an attractive woman.