50 Literary Terms Terms for the Study of Shakespeare Play: a narrative dialogue between characters meant to be produced (with author's directions but no interpretation or direct comment) Tragedy: play in which audience sympathizes with protagonist and has a sad ending. Comedy: play in which the audience is superior to the protagonist and has a happy ending. Prose: Not poetry Rhyme: same sound on last accented syllable, vowel precedes different consonant. Couplet: unit of 2 lines Quatrain: unit of 4 lines Sestet: unit of 6 lines Rhythm: accents of words falling at regular intervals. Iamb(ic): poetic foot ( ) Pentameter: 5 beats to a line Caesure: pause - replaces unstressed syllable. Blank verse: five-foot, iambic, unrhymed poetry. Formal Poetry: poetry with patterns of rhythm and rhyme. Sonnet: 14 line poem of iambic pentameter expressing thought or emotion. Petrarchan (Italian) Sonnet: sonnet with 14 lines (8&^) and rhyme scheme of abbaabba cdecde Shakespearean sonnet: 14 line sonnet (4&4&4&2) and rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg Imagery: re-creation of (5) sense impressions Simile: comparison between 2 unlike objects, usually with "like" or "as". Metaphor: an implied comparison. Personification: (person) giving human qualities to non living things. Apostrophe: personification in which an object is addressed. Paradox: contradictory statement. Oxymoron: combination of paradoxes. Pun: Play on words. Malapropism: ridiculous misuse of words (especially of similar sound). Irony: twist of events (usually tragic). Chorus: (prologue-beginning/epilogue-end) a character who speaks the prologue &/or epilogue and comments on action. Soliloquy: a speech by a character meant to be heard only by the audience and to reveal his inner thoughts. Allusion: reference to people, places, etc. in previous literature or history Four humours: blood - loving, phlegm - lacking in drive, choler (yellow bile) - quick-tempered, melancholy (black bile) - sad. Stichomythia: (artificial) style in which each character speaks one line