Literary Terms: drama

Drama - literature written for the stage; PLAYS

Tragedy - ends sadly, often in death. Key ingredient: THE FALL of the hero.

tragic flaw: some aspect of the hero that is the cause of the downfall

pun: a play on multiple meanings of a word

Ex:

1. I work as a baker because I knead dough.
2. When the lumberjack accidentally let his chainsaw slip, he quickly became lacked toes intolerant.
3. (Warning: excessive cheesiness forthcoming) Knock knock! Whose there? Orange! Orange who! Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?
4. Where do peas have their sight tested? In an iPod!

alliteration: use of same beginning sound in adjacent words

Ex:

1. Dressy daffodils
2. Fabulous freshmen, sarcastic sophomores, gentle juniors, serious seniors
3. she sells seashells by the seashore

Oxymoron:

figurative expression of contradictory terms.

Ex: jumbo shrimp….

O brawling love, o loving hate….

allusion: reference to another work of literature, or art, or an historical event, or the Bible. Ex:

• Lord of the Flies is an allusion to a name for Satan.
• The line in Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” (as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death) is an allusion to Psalm 23.

metaphor: direct comparison between two unlike things

Ex:

• What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!
• My lips, two blushing pilgrims…

simile: indirect comparison (using “like” or “as”) between two unlike things

hyperbole extreme exaggeration

Ex: Hot cheetos are the greatest thing in the whole world!

irony (situational): difference between what one expects (based on appearances) and what actually happens

dramatic irony: happens when the audience knows something the characters don’t know

comic relief: a humorous scene or incident that alleviates tension in an otherwise serious work

foreshadowing: hints, in a story, about dramatic events that will come later

aside: In drama, a brief speech (often a one-liner) directed towards the audience that is supposedly not audible to the other characters onstage.

sonnet: a fixed form of poetry, consisting of 14 lines, usually written in iambic pentameter. Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets.

• Iambic pentameter….Huh?

• iamb: a “beat” (dah-dum) of lyrics. One soft sound, one stressed sound

• meter: the rhythm of a poem

• penta: five (a pentagram has 5 sides)

• So, a sonnet written in iambic pentameter has 14 lines, with 5 iambs (or da-dums) per line. See the prologue of Act I in Romeo and Juliet for an example.

soliloquy: a long speech by a character alone onstage. A soliloquy usualy explores one of the play's major themes.

• Examples:
  • Mercutio's "Queen Mab" soliloquy in Act 1 (explores the theme of ideals being illusions that conflict with reality)
  • Juliet's "Romeo, o Romeo...... What's in a name?" (explores how social distinctions may conflict with one's true nature)

paradox: a statement that appears to be contradictory, but which actually makes sense

• Sometimes, even when you lose, you win.
• In order to take a step forward, you have to first be unbalanced. (by Mr. Samuels)
• Evil hides most effectively behind a beautiful face.