Literary Elements in Romeo & Juliet

English 9B

Quatrain

4 line sections in a sonnet

Shakespeare’s quatrains have an

ABAB

rhyme scheme.

Couplet

2 line concluding section of the sonnet

Both lines rhyme

Aside

an actor’s speech, directed to the audience, that is not supposed to be heard by other actors on stage

used to let the audience know what a character is about to do or what he or she is thinking.

Soliloquy

a character talks about his/her own feelings and thoughts to the audience without addressing any of the other characters (typically not on stage w/ character)

Iambic Pentameter

• The word "iambic" describes the type of foot that is used (in English, an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable). The word "pentameter" indicates that a line has five of these "feet".

Foil

a character who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) in order to highlight various features of that other character's personality, throwing these characteristics into sharper focus.

characterization

• How the author gives information about a character, typically through actions, speech, or thoughts.

Dramatic Irony

When the audience (or reader) knows a fictional character is making a mistake, because the reader has more information than the character.

Situational irony

• an outcome that turns out to be very different from what was expected

Foreshadowing

• an author suggests certain plot developments that might come later in the story.

oxymoron

• combines contradictory terms

Personification

• giving human traits (qualities, feelings, action, or characteristics) to non-living objects (things, colors, qualities, or ideas).

allusion

• figure of speech that makes a reference to a well-known place, event, literary work, myth, or work of art

Analogy

• A kind of extended metaphor or long simile in which an explicit comparison is made between two things (events, ideas, people, etc.) for the purpose of furthering a line of reasoning or drawing an inference

Epithet

a characterizing word or phrase firmly associated with a person or thing and often used in place of an actual name or title, such as “man's best friend” for “dog.”

Simile

• A comparison made using “like” or “as”

Metaphor

• A direct comparison that DOES NOT use “like” or “as”