POETRY TERMS AND DRAMA TERMS FOR

SHAKESPEARE
SPEECH PATTERNS IN SHAKESPEARE
• Verse: Lines arranged in
metrical patterns; rhythm
• Blank verse: speech of most
of the upper class
characters/nobility. Verse that
is unrhymed. The main verse
form in all Shakespeare’s plays
is “blank verse’, or to give it its
more formal label, “iambic
pentameter.” This was the a
very common and conventional
way of writing plays during
sixteenth century
SPEECH PATTERNS IN SHAKESPEARE
Iambic Pentameter: 5 feet
•
• “A horse/ A horse/My
Iamb: unstressed syllable followed by
•
a stressed syllable.
king/dom for /a horse!”
• Meter: recurrence of a rhythmic
pattern
• Penta: 5
• Foot: rhythmic unit within a line.
• 1 iamb = 1foot in iambic
pentameter.
• Iambic pentamter: 5 iambs (10
syllables)
• Prose: the speech of commoners; uses poetic devices but
has no rhythm. Commoners never speak in blank verse. It
is a way for us to differentiate characters.
DRAMA TERMS
• Soliloquy: one person
speaking on stage;
usually expresses
thoughts/feelings.
• Dramatic irony: readers
knows something the
character does not
• Verbal irony: Saying
opposite of what is meant
• Situational irony: what
happens is opposite of
what is expected
DRAMA TERMS CONTINUED
• Exposition: sets up play; introduces characters, setting, conflict
and hints at theme
• Hook/complication/Exciting force: conflict introduced
• Rising action: conflicts develop (acts I and II)
• Climax: turning point (usually Act III); potential for change or
disaster
• Falling Action: result of turning point/climax; fallout (Act IV into
Act V)
• Denouement/Catastrophe: In Shakespeare’s plays many dead
on stage
SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDY

• In a drama In life
• Act 1 (Introduction) Birth
• Act 2 (Rising Action) Growth
• Act 3 (Climax) Maturity
• Act 4 (Falling Action) Decline
• Act 5 (Conclusion) Death
DRAMA TERMS CONTINUED
• Catharsis: Powerful
emotional experience
which not only gives our
natural feelings of pity
and fear, but does so in
a way which conduces
rightful understanding
and response to events
in human world.
• Tragic Flaw: Tragic
hero is an essentially
good man who has a
character weakness:
tragic flaw. The flaw is
an integral part of the
protagonist’s character
that causes his
downfall.
• Foreshadowing: describes
when a piece of dialogue or
action refers to events that
will happen later in the play
even though the characters
have no prior knowledge
such events will occur.
POETRY TERMS
• Puns: a joke based on the use of a word, or more than
one word, that has more than one meaning but the same
sound.
- Mercutio-- “Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you
dance.”
- Romeo– “Not I , believe me. You have dancing shoes/
with nimble soles; I have a soul of lead…”
Sole when referring to shoes, then made a pun by
referring to his own soul.
POETRY TERMS
• Metaphor: comparison in which an object or person is
directly liked to something else could be completely
unrelated.
Example: “But , soft! What light through yonder window
breaks?/ It is the east, and Juliet is the sun” (II ii 2-3)
Here, Juliet is metaphorically compared to the sun
despite the fact that she has nothing physically in
common with a glowing star hundreds of thousands of
miles away.
POETRY TERMS
• Personification: occurs when an inanimate object or
concept is given the qualities of a person or animal.
Example: Juliet: “For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night/
Whiter than new snow on a raven’s back/ Come, gentle
night, come loving, black-brow’d night” (III ii 18-20)
Obviously the night does not have wings nor does it have
a brow, but giving it these qualities adds a mystique to
Juliet's’ monologue and a poetic quality to the language.
POETRY TERMS
• Oxymoron: describes when two juxtaposed words have
opposing or very diverse meanings.
Example: “Beautiful tyrant! Fiend angelical!” (III ii 77)
When Juliet refers to Romeo as a “beautiful tyrant,” she
is expressing an oxymoron because the acts of a tyrant
will rarely be referred to as beautiful.
POETRY TERMS
• Paradox: statement or situation with seemingly
contradictory or incompatible components. On closer
examination, however, the combination of these
components is indeed appropriate.
Example: “O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face!” (III
ii 75)
While Juliet knows that Romeo is not a serpent nor does
he have a face full of flowers, her use of these
descriptions show how paradoxically he is her lover and
the murderer of her cousin at the time
POETRY TERMS
• Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds
• Alliteration: repetition of consonant sounds
(usually initial letters)
• Consonance: repetition of consonant sounds
(within words)
• Couplet: two consecutive lines of poetry that
rhyme.
 • God
• Angelic Beings
THE GREAT CHAIN OF BEING • Humanity
• Kings/Queens
• Hierarchical universe • Lords
ordained by God • Knights

• Those higher on the chain • Priests/Monks

possessed greater power, • Commoners

intellect, mobility, and • Father

capability than those lower • Mother
on the chain. • Children
• Animals
• All creatures, beings, and
• Plants
objects are represented on
• Minerals/non-living objects
the chain.
• The more “spirit” the person or object had, the more power it
had in its interactions with people or things below in the
order.
• Elizabethans believed that God set up this order and wanted
it to be followed. If someone or something were to break the
Divine Order by not being obedient to whatever was above it,
the person or thing that went against God’s will would be
punished and chaos would ensue.
• Bigger betrayals of the Divine Order were believed to have
larger punishments and smaller betrayals smaller
punishments.
 EXAMPLES
• If a commoner overthrew a King-------------Earthquakes, hurricanes, or other
natural disasters would occur. Rebellion against a king was an act against God
and his divine plan.
• “The state of monarchy is the most supreme thing upon earth: for kings are
not only God’s Lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon God’s throne, but even
by God himself they are called Gods.” –King James I
• A daughter disobeying a father-----daughter falls ill (possible death depending
on the severity of the action)
• This made it convenient for those in power to maintain it.
• Common theme in Shakespearean Tragedy: Violating the Great Chain of Being
• Romeo and Juliet: Romeo and Juliet violate the chain by eloping without
their parents’ consent.
MEANING IN ELIZABETHAN LITERATURE?
• Everything is subject to the chain. Ie. Symbols, metaphors, motifs,
similes, imagery etc.
• If Shakespeare compares a woman to a vine and her husband to an oak
he isn’t just commenting on his strength and her beauty. He is also
discussing her subordinate position to him on the chain.
• If two men are fighting for the throne and one is compared to a lion and
the other to a boar, the comparison implies something about which of the
two has a legitimate claim.
• Imagery of the sun, moon, or other nature also has implications and
connotations based on the chain ( celestial order: Sun, moon, planets,
stars).
 SHAKESPEAREAN SONNET
• Example: Chorus. (Prologue)
• 14 line poem, 3 quatrains, 1 rhyming
couplet (heroic couplet).
• Written in iambic pentameter
• Quatrain: 4 line stanza
Two households, both alike in dignity, a 1
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, b 2
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, a 3
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. b 4
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes c 5
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; d 6
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows c 7
Do with their death bury their parents' strife. d 8
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, e 9
And the continuance of their parents' rage, f 10
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove, e 11
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; f 12
The which if you with patient ears attend, g 13
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. g 14