English Mid-term terms

Feudalism- a type of government system in which the lord or the king owns all of the lands and gives the land to the noble men/knights, and in exchange for the land the knights give the king protection

Metaphor- compares things that don't have anything in common without like or as

Hamartia- a personality trait of a character that causes their downfall

*example: ambition, hubris, pride 

Iambic pentameter- 10 syllables of unstressed and stressed syllables  

Soliloquy-one person on stage talking about their thoughts and feelings out loud to the audience

Aside-multiple people on stage but only one character can hear

Myth- passed down a fake story

Legend- passed down a story based on historical truth

Hyperbole- exaggerated statements

Courtly love- platonic (non-sexula) relationship between a knight and an older aristocratic noble woman that is married. Requires the knight to be submissive and respectful to the woman

Quatrain- 4 lines of poetry 

Couplet- two lines that rhyme 

blank verse-Regular meter that has no rhyme scheme

What sonnets did shakespear write about 

127-154 for dark lady

1-126 for fair youth

Verbal irony- sarcasm, saying one thing but mean the opposite 

Situational- situation is the exact opposite of the expected outcome 

great chain of being-Hierarchy in the Middle Ages and Renaissance that stated everything has a rightful place in the hierarchy (God, angels, king, men, animals, etc) and breaking that chain causes chaos

A bob and wheel consists of ___ lines and has the __ rhyme scheme

-5, ABABA

Volta-shift in meaning/tone of a sonnet

Paradox-contradictory statement that contains truth (think oxymoron) 

Octave-8 lines of poetry 

Sestet-6 lines of poetry 

Sonnet-14 line poem that deals with love or mortality/immortality