As You Like It Literary terms

imagery (14, 181): using vivid words and phrases to conjure up mental pictures and assocations (ex. “As the ox hath his bow, sir, the horse his curb, and the falcon her bells, so man hath his desires; and as pigeons bill, so wedlock would be nibbling.” 3.3.?)

simile (88, 182): type of imagery, compares one thing to another using “like” or “as” (ex. “as innocent as a lamb”)

metaphor (24, 182): type of imagery, suggests two dissimilar things are the same not using “like” or “as” (ex. “The world is a stage.”)

personification (40, 182): type of imagery, imagines things or ideas as people (ex. “the sun kissed me.”)

epithet (36): an adjective or descriptive phrase expressing a quality characteristic of the person or thing mentioned. (ex. “old men are often unfairly awarded the epithet ‘dirty.’”)

classical allusion: reference to mythological characters or themes/references to Greek or Roman literature

pun (185): a joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word or the fact that there are words which sound alike but have different meanings

double entendre (30): a word or phrase that is open to two or more interpretations, one of which is usually indecent (ex. “Lady, shall I lie in your lap?” - Hamlet)

apostrophe (40): addressing an abstract idea (ex. time) or person not in the room with you (ex. “yuric, i knew you…” - Hamlet, addressing a skull, “is this a dagger which i see before me?” - Macbeth)

irony: expressing the opposite of what is expected

dramatic irony (88): when the audience has info that characters don’t

verbal irony: when a speaker says something contradictory to what they intend to convey, often for humorous or sarcastic effect

situational irony: when the outcome of a situation is different from what was expected or intended, often resulting in a surprising or unexpected twist (plot twist!)

soliloquy (6, 180): spoken by a character who is alone (or supposedly alone on stage), reveals inner thoughts, create dramatic irony (ex. “Farewell, good Charles. - Now will I stir this gamester…” - 1.1.127-8)

aside (4, 180): brief comment or address to the audience that gives voice to a character’s inner thoughts, unheard by other characters on stage, create dramatic irony (ex. Ferris Bueller looks into the camera to say “Life moves pretty fast…”)

hyperbole: the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech (ex. “It was upon this fashion bequeathed/me by will of a thousand crowns,” 1.1.1-2)

oxymoron: a self-contradicting word or group of words (ex. organized chaos, silent scream, awfully good)

repetition (40, 106, 183): the use of the same word or phrase multiple times for emphasis (ex. “When the going gets tough the tough get going.“)

alliteration (138, 183): the repetition of the same sound at the start of a series of words in succession, provides lyrical effect ("The Soul selects her own Society” - Emily Dickinson)

anaphora (138, 184): repetition of same word or phrase at the beginning of successive sentences or clauses (ex. “every breath you take. every move you make. every bond you break. -The Police)

epistrophe (184): repetition of same word or phrase at the end of successive sentences or clauses (ex. “The award for best hair went to Josh. The award for most likely to succeed went to Josh. And the award for most charming? It went to Josh!”)

antithesis (106, 185): use of contrasting words within same sentence/short section of text to highlight discrepencies and conflicts (Rosalind and Jacques: Rosalind says “rich eyes and poor hands” and “rather have a fool to make me merry than experience to make me sad” 4.1.?)

polyptoton (138): stylistic scheme in which words derived from the same root are repeated (ex. “i dreamed a dream in times gone by”, “he came, he saw, he overcame”)

injunctions (54): a bidding, a command, or an order

lists (184): accumulating many words or phrases at a certain moment to intensify description and dramatic effect (ex. “Sir, I am a true labourer: I earn that I eat, get that I/wear; owe no man hate, envy no man's happiness; glad of other/men's good, content with my harm: and the greatest of my/pride is, to see my ewes graze and my lambs suck.” - Corin, 3.3.53-6)

burlesque (76): comically exaggerated imitation or parody (ex. touchstone’s imitation of orlando’s poem)

prose (20, 183): everyday language with no specific metric scheme, rhythm or rhyme. uppercase letters only at start of sentences (ex. first scene)

verse (183): form of writing, has rhythm and meter. uppercase letters at start of each line.

blank verse (98, 183): unrhyming iambic pentameter, in this play (ex. “because that i am more than common tall.”)

sonnet: a single-stanza lyric poem containing fourteen lines written in iambic pentameter

turn (or volta): an abrupt change in the mood or argument of a poem

quatrain: a unit or group of four lines of verse

rhyming couplet: two lines of the same length that rhyme and complete one thought

octave (or octet): a unit of poetry that contains eight lines

sestet: a type of stanza or poem with six lines

rhyme scheme: a poet's deliberate pattern of lines that rhyme with other lines in a poem or a stanza

Shakespearean (or English) sonnet: three quatrains and a final couplet (rhyme scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG)

Petrarchan (or Italian) sonnet: octave (rhyme scheme: ABBAABBA or ABBACDDC) and a sestet (rhyme scheme: CDECDE or CDCCDC)

meter: the rhythm in a line of verse (ex. iambic pentameter)

iambic pentameter: five-beat rhythm with alternating stressed (/) and unstressed (x) syllables ( x / x / x / x / x / ) (ex. Pheobe: “The matter’s in my head and in my heart.” 3.6.136)

caesura: a pause in a line of poetry that is formed by the rhythms of natural speech rather than by metrics

end-stopping: a pause at the end of a poetic line

enjambment: the continuation of a sentence or phrase from one line of poetry to the next

muse: a source of inspiration to a poet