Lyrical Devices
Repetition of the same letter or sound at the beginning of several words in close proximity or sequence.
What is alliteration
Comparisons of two unlike things using like or as VERSUS direct comparison
What is simile VERSUS metaphor?
Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the BEGINNINGS of two or more sentences or clauses in a row VERSUS repetition at the ENDS.
What is anaphora versus epistrophe?
Where the audience or reader is aware of something important, of which the characters in the story are not aware.
What is dramatic irony?
Suffering: the third element of plot is "a destructive or painful act."
What is pathos?
A group of actors who observes and comments on the actions, builds atmosphere, and prepares the audience for future events through songs.
What is the Chorus?
Repetition of the same or similar vowel sounds within words
What is assonance?
a concrete object or an action that can represent a larger, often abstract idea or characteristic.
What is a symbol?
A device in which the second half of a phrase or expression is balanced against the first, but with the parts reversed.
What is chiasmus?
When two or more characters speak back and forth to each other.
What is dialogue?
When the play arouses emotions of pity and fear in the spectator and then purifies them.
What is Catharsis
What is até
Repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds at the end of words or within words.
What is consonance?
a brief, indirect reference to another person, place, thing, event, or idea in history or literature assumed to be well known enough to be recognized by the reader.
What is allusion
Commas used, with no conjunction to separate a series of words VERSUS series used WITH conjunctions?
What is asyndeton versus polysyndeton?
A long uninterrupted speech given by one character to another
what is monologue
A plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly or abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence
The action at the end of a tragedy that initiates the denouement or falling action of a play.
What is catastrophe
/f/ /v/ /th/ /th/ : are divided into voiceless (soft) and voiced (hard).
What are fricatives?
a figure of speech in which something nonhuman is given human characteristics.
What is personification?
The use of more words than are necessary to convey meaning
What is a pleonasm?
To indicate or suggest something, usually something unpleasant, that is about to happen
What is foreshadowing?
The greek term for a tragic flaw.
What is hamartia
A type of hamartia: Excessive pride
What is hubris?
/l/ : this can flow, creating a sense of quick, light movement
What are liquids?
a figure of speech in which contradictory words or phrases appear next to each other in conjunction for an incongruous or ironic effect
What is oxymoron?
Establishing a clear, contrasting relationship between two ideas or concepts by joining them together or juxtaposing them through words, phrases, clauses, or sentences in parallel structure.
When a character directly addresses someone or something that is not physically present, The subject may be dead, inanimate, abstract, or absent.
What is apostrophe?
The inescapable agent of someone's or something's downfall
what is nemesis?
imitation of an action that is complete, whole, and of a certain magnitude
What is mimesis?
/b/ /p/ /t/ /d/ : create an abrupt, sharp, sometimes shocking effect.
What are plosives?
language that evokes particular sensations or emotionally rich experiences to the reader in precise detail VERSUS one sensory experience described in terms of another sensory experience.
Imagery VERSUS synesthesia
Sentence construction which places equal grammatical constructions near each other, or repeats identical grammatical patterns.
What is parallelism?
When a sentence is purposefully left incomplete or cut off. It’s caused by an inability or unwillingness to continue speaking.
What is Aposiopesis?
the concept that hospitality toward foreign guests was a moral responsibility.
What is xenia?
Recognition of the truth of some horrible secret or event.
What is Anagnorsis?
/s/ /sh/ /ch/ /x/ : depending on context, these sounds can be soft or hissing, calming or sinister.
What is sibilance?
A specialized metaphor wherein substitution of one term for another the first based on close proximity VERSUS based on a part-whole relationship
What is metonymy VERSUS synecdoche?
A series of three words, phrases or sentences that are parallel in structure, length and/or rhythm.
What is a tricolon?
Or rapid fire dialogue, Dramatic dialogue, as in a Greek play, characterized by brief exchanges between two characters, each of whom usually speaks in one line of verse during a scene of intense emotion or strong argumentation.
What is Stichomythia?
Occurs when a situation seems to developing in one direction, then suddenly "reverses" to another.
What is Peripeteia?
The idea that a play should be limited to a specific time, place, and storyline.
What are the Three Unities?