literary devices

Question 1

setting

Answer 1

time of day, place, weather (concept of nature as a portent)

Question 2

plot

Answer 2

each part of plot usually matches up to 5 acts of the play; one per act
- exposition
- rising action
- climax
- falling action
- resolution

Question 3

catastrophe

Answer 3

a great, often sudden calamity

Question 4

dramatic irony

Answer 4

audience knows something that characters do not

Question 5

foil - characterization

Answer 5

a character with traits contrasting to those of another character, often, but not always that protagonist

Question 6

round character - characterization

Answer 6

a character who is multi-dimensional/possesses different aspects to his or her character

Question 7

flat character - characterization

Answer 7

a character who does not change over the course of a work; lacks depth or detail; often represents a single quality

Question 8

conflict

Answer 8

struggle between opposing forces (ideas, actions, desires) that drive the plot forward; may be internal and/or external; may be multiple conflicts, but usually one conflict emerges as the main one

Question 9

theme

Answer 9

that main point the work is making/examining about life, society, human nature

Question 10

metaphor

Answer 10

a comparison of two unlike things ( does not use ‘like’ or ‘as’)

Question 11

simile

Answer 11

a comparison of two unlike things in a phrase introduced by ‘like’ or ‘as’

Question 12

personification

Answer 12

a figure of speech where animals, ideas or objects are given human characteristics

Question 13

allusion

Answer 13

reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature

Question 14

pun

Answer 14

two words that sound the same but mean something different

Question 15

double entendre

Answer 15

a word or expression that be understood in two ways (often sexual)

Question 16

oxymoron

Answer 16

a figure of speech in which opposite or contradictory ideas or terms are combined

Question 17

blank verse

Answer 17

unrhymed lines of ten syllables, each with the even-numbered syllables bearing accents; often called the most ‘natural’ verse form since its close to natural rhythms of English speech

Question 18

iamb

Answer 18

a unit or ‘foot’ of poetry that is made up of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

Question 19

iambic pentameter

Answer 19

a line of poetry composed of five iambs

Question 20

soliloquy

Answer 20

a speech said alone on stage, meant for the audience to know a character’s thought, **look for stage directions and dialogue indicating that a character has been left alone on stage

Question 21

comic relief

Answer 21

humorous interlude in serious literary work, intended to relive the dramatic tension or heighten the emotional impact by means of contrast

Question 22

aside

Answer 22

words spoken by an actor in such a way that they are heard by the audience but supposedly not by the other actors; often pointed out in stage directions

Question 23

foreshadowing

Answer 23

the process in a drama or narrative of giving the audience or reader a hint about a coming event

Question 24

sonnet

Answer 24

a poem consisting of 14 lines, usually in iambic pentameter, and with a certain rhythm scheme; usually expresses a single idea with a reversal or twist in that concluding lines; even though part of a play, a Shakespearean sonnet can sometimes stand alone

Question 25

Shakespearean sonnet

Answer 25

• english sonnet
  three quatrains (quatrain = 4 lines) and a final couplet; written in iambic pentameter with a rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

Question 26

Petrarchan sonnet

Answer 26

• Italian sonnet
  eight line stanza (octave) followed by a six line stanza (sestet); rhyme scheme ABBA ABBA CDECDE (or CDCDCD)

Question 27

tragic hero

Answer 27

the protagonist of the play (has a weakness that causes their downfall)

Question 28

reversal

Answer 28

a change from one state of affairs within a play to its opposite

Question 29

catharsis

Answer 29

the cleansing of the audience’s pent up emotions (tragedies help the audience to feel and release emotions)