Words
dramatic irony
When the reader or viewer knows something that a character doesn't know.
comic relief
Humorous scenes, incidents, or speeches that are included in a serious drama to provide a reduction in emotional intensity. Because comic relief breaks the tension, it allows an audience to prepare emotionally for events to come.
drama
Story that is written to be acted for an audience
soliloquy
A speech in which a character speaks his or her thoughts aloud. Generally, the character is on stage alone, not speaking to other characters and perhaps not consciously addressing an audience.
Soft! I will go along.
wait a minute
aside
A short speech directed to the audience or another character, that is not heard by the other characters on stage
foil
A charater who rovides a striking contrast to another character. By using a foil, a writer can call attention to certain traits possessed by a main character or simply enhance a character by contrast.
end-stopped line
Line of poetry with some punctuation at its end.
stage direction
Instruction written into the script of a play, indicating stage actions and movements of performers.
Tell me in sadness
tell me in seriousness
chorus
a single actor who serves as narrator to foreshadow or summarize events
iambic pentameter
Line of poetry with 10 syllables, and each unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable.
run-on line
Line of poetry with no punctuation at its end.
tragedy
A dramatic work that presents the dwnfall of a dignified character (tragic hero) or character who are involved historically or socially significant events.
but he, his own affections counselor
keeps to himself
inversion
Reversal of the normal word order of a sentence.
prose
All forms of written or spoken expression that are not in verse. This term, therefore may be used to describe very different forms of writing-short stories, essays, etc.
sonnet
A poem of fourteen lines with a rhyme scheme, commonly written in iambic pentameter.
What art thou drawn among these heartless hinds
cowardly servants
and fought on part and part
some on one side some on the other
oxymoron
A figure of speech that brings together two contradictory terms.
pun
A joke that comes from a play on words. It can make use of a word's mulltiple meanings or of a words sound.
shakespearean sonnet
Consists of three quatrains, or four-line rhyming units, and a final couplet.
The shady curtains from Aurora's bed
Aurora was the goddess of dawn. This is said when referring to something about the sun rising.
we'll not carry coals
not be insulted