Vocabulary for Reading Macbeth Flashcards
Simile
A comparison using like or as
Metaphor
An implied comparison between two seemingly unlike things for literary effect
Personification
Giving inanimate objects living qualities
Imagery
Words and phrases that create a clear picture in the reader’s mind; draws on the senses
Blank verse
Unrhymed lines that have a pattern of unstressed/stressed syllables; 5 feet/line with two syllables in each poetic foot (Da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM)
Iambic pentameter
Rhymed lines that have a pattern of unstressed/stressed syllables; 5 feet/line with two syllables in each poetic foot (Da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM)
Tetrameter
A line of poetry with a four beat rhythm (DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da)
Prose
Everyday language with no specific rhyme, metric scheme, or rhythm
Caesura
The phrasing of a line to broken to create a pause or a break in the dialogue or action (“To be or not to be – that is the question…”. From the Latin “cutting off”
Enjambment
The end of one line of poetry carries onto the next line (the effect is a ‘spilling over’ and building from one line to the next
Antithesis
The opposition of words, ideas, or phrases against each other. It sets these ideas, words & phrases against each other. “Fair is foul, and foul is fair”
Alliteration
The repetition of initial consonant sounds. “Fair is foul, and foul is fair / Hover through the fog and filthy air” - the repetition of the f sound
Assonance
The repetition of vowel sounds in the middle of words. “Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine / And thrice again to make up nine” - the repetition of the i sound.
Anaphora
The repetition of the same work at the beginning of successive sentences
Soliloquy
A monologue (usually an internal debate) that a character presents while alone on stage
Aside
A brief comment to the audience that show the character’s unspoken thoughts, unheard by other characters on the stage
Dramatic Irony
When the reader or audience knows more than a character
Idiom
A phrase that is common in a language or culture that means something different from how it literally sounds
Allusion
Reference to another literary work (or historical event)
The Fourth Wall
A performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this “wall”, the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot
The Globe Theater
The famous London theater where Shakespeare’s works were (and are still) performed.
