Shakespeare - Literary and Dramatic Devices

What is an aside?

• A play on words, often humorous, that allows for multiple meanings or applications.

• A brief speech, directed to the audience, that is not supposed to be heard by other actors on stage.

• A speech, usually lengthy, in which a character, alone on stage, expresses his or her thoughts aloud to himself or herself.

• A unit of poetic verse consisting of two successive lines. This device uses the same meter and rhyme, and forms a complete thought.

What is a soliloquy?

• A speech, usually fairly long in length, that is given by a character to an intended audience

• A brief reference to a notable person, place, thing, event, or idea in history, literature, or religion.

• Contrary ideas expressed in a balanced sentence.

• A speech, usually lengthy, in which a character, alone on stage, expresses his or her thoughts aloud to himself or herself.

What is a monologue?

• A dramatic device wherein a character speaks to someone that is absent or dead or something nonhuman is addressed as if it were alive, present, and able to reply.

• A speech, usually fairly long in length, that is given by a character to an intended audience.

• A speech, usually lengthy, in which a character, alone on stage, expresses his or her thoughts aloud to himself or herself.

• A play on words, often humorous, that allows for multiple meanings or applications.

What is an Apostrophe?

• Contrary ideas expressed in a balanced sentence.

• Rearranging the grammatical elements of a sentence in order to fit a poetic meter.

• A brief reference to a notable person, place, thing, event, or idea in history, literature, or religion

• The dramatic device wherein a character speaks to someone that is absent or dead or something nonhuman is addressed as if it were alive, present, and able to reply.

What is a pun?

• A play on words, often humorous, that allows for multiple meanings or applications.

• A poetic meter that contains four feet, each made up of stressed/unstressed pattern.

• Contrary ideas expressed in a balanced sentence.

• Straightforward, ordinary speech that does not contain rhythm or meter.

What is inversion?

• A poetic meter that contains four feet. Each foot is made up of stressed / unstressed syllables.

• Rearranging the grammatical elements of a sentence in order to fit a poetic meter.

• Contrary ideas expressed in a balanced sentence.

• A unit of poetic verse consisting of two successive lines. This device uses the same meter and rhyme, and forms a complete thought.

What is antithesis?

• Contrary ideas expressed in a balanced sentence.

• A speech, usually lengthy, in which a character, alone on stage, expresses his or her thoughts out loud to himself or herself

• A play on words, often humorous, that allows for multiple meanings or applications

• A brief reference to a notable person, place, thing, event, or idea in history, literature, or religion.

What is prose?

• A poetic meter that contains five feet. Each foot is made of an unstressed / stressed pattern.

• Straightforward, ordinary speech. Does not contain rhythm or meter.

• A unit of poetic verse consisting of two successive lines. This device uses the same meter and rhyme, and forms a complete thought.

• Rearranging the grammatical elements of a sentence in order to fit a poetic meter.

What is iambic pentameter?

• A speech, usually lengthy, that is given by a character to an intended audience.

• A poetic meter that contains five feet. Each foot is made of an unstressed / stressed pattern.

• A play on words, often humorous, that allows for multiple meanings or applications.

• A poetic meter that contains four feet. Each foot is made up of stressed / unstressed pattern

What is trochaic tetrameter?

• Straightforward, ordinary speech. Does not contain rhythm or meter.

• A poetic meter that contains four feet. Each foot is made up of stressed / unstressed pattern.

• A brief reference to a notable person, place, thing, event, or idea in history, literature, or religion.

• Rearranging the grammatical elements of a sentence in order to fit a poetic meter.