Drama
Basics
Basics
The imaginary wall that separates the stage from the audience
What it the fourth wall?
Repetition of the first consonant sounds at the beginning of words that are close together
What is alliteration?
Using words that sound like their meanings
What is onomatopoeia?
The measured pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of verse
The ill-fated protagonist of a play that ends in catastrophe and suffering
What is a tragic hero?
The use of a comic scene to interrupt a series of intense or tragic moments
What is comic relief?
Repetition of the first word or words at the beginning of successive clauses/lines/phrases
What is anaphora?
Using words that sound harsh to mimic/evoke the unpleasantness of a situation
What is cacophony?
Any pair of stressed and unstressed syllables
What is a foot?
The spectacle a play presents in the performance
What is staging?
Articles or objects that appear on stage
What are props?
Repetition of the last word or words at the end of successive clauses/lines/phrases
What is epistrophe?
Using words that sound pleasant to mimic/evoke the pleasantness of a situation
What is euphony?
A run-on line of poetry in which logical and grammatical sense carries over from one line to the next
What is an enjambment?
The playwright's descriptive comments that provide the reader/actors with information about the play
What are stage directions?
The opening speech of a play
What is a prologue?
Repetition in which the words in one phrase or clause are repeated in reverse order in the next line
What is antimetabole?
The repetition of similar vowel sounds in words that are close together
What is assonance?
The omission of an unstressed syllable to preserve the meter in a line of verse
What is elision?
A quality of a play's action that stimulates the audience to pity a character
What is pathos?
The character list of a play
What is the dramatis personae?
Repetition in which the last word or words in one clause/line/phrase are repeated at the beginning of the next clause/line/phrase
What is anadiplosis?
The repetition of similar consonant sounds in words that are close together
What is consonance?
A strong pause within a line of verse
What is caesura?
The purging of pity and fear in the audience after the tragic hero's fall