The Odyssey
Odysseus
The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
Shakespeare
Metaphor
Direct comparison between two unlike things
monologue
"How sound that was! Yet I refused. I wished to see the cave man, what he had to offer..."
Odysseus
Song of Roland
Roland
The Burning of Rome
Tacitus
Soliloquy
Long speech by a character alone on stage
title or characteristics given to someone
epithet
"a calamitous fire--whether it was accidental of purposely contrived by the Emperor remains uncertain for on this point authorities are divided..."
Tacitus
The Grail
Perceval
The Odyssey
Homer
Prologue
Introductory speech performed by the chorus at start of an Act
story within a story
frame story
"Ah Durendal, good sword, your unlucky day, for I am lost and cannot keep you in my care. The battles I have won, fighting with you..."
Roland
The male in "Chevrefoil"
Tristan
"The Grail" from Perceval
Chrétien de Troyes
Vernacular
common/everyday language
Lyrical poem
Lai
"I stood now where the souls of the last class were covered wholly; they shone below the ice like straws in glass."
Dante
The female in "Chevrefoil"
"Chevrefoil"
Marie de France
Blank Verse
Unrhymed iambic pentameter
When the audience and other characters know something contrary to the characters' actions on stage
Dramatic irony
"If someone tries to separate them, the hazel dies quickly and the honeysuckle with it. Sweet love so it is with us: you cannot live without me, nor I without you"
Tristan