Literary Terms
Descriptive language that appeals to the senses
Imagery
A drama that ends in catastrophe – most often death – for the main characters
a tragedy
A comparison where the poet describes one thing as if it is something else in order to help the reader understand it in a different way
Metaphor
The names of the feuding families in Romeo & Juliet
The Montagues & the Capulets
This is what caused the fight in John Montague's poem
The friend broke the swallow's eggs against a sunlit stone
The speaker's attitude about the subject
Tone
In drama, the way actors position themselves in relation to one another, the audience, and the objects on the stage
Blocking
A series of lines grouped together in a poem
a stanza
The city where Romeo & Juliet is set
Verona, Italy
Rhina P. Espaillat uses this punctuation to separate the English and Spanish languages in her poem "Bilingual/Bilingüe."
Parentheses
To put something in your own words, usually to make it more clear
Paraphrase
A long speech in a play delivered by one character and directed to other characters or to the audience
Monologue
The way a poem is organized on the page
poetic structure
The name of the man that Lord and Lady Capulet want Juliet to marry
Paris
Wisława Szymborska's poem "Some Like Poetry" contains this many stanzas
three
A character’s reason for behaving in a certain way
Motive
A speech given by a character alone on stage, not intended to be heard by others; lets the audience know what the character is thinking or feeling
Soliloquy
Writing that uses ordinary language; anything that is not poetry
Prose
Romeo's friend and cousin; the peacemaker of the group.
Benvolio
This is why the ocean is important for the speaker in "Prayer to the Pacific"
Their Native American heritage views it as their place of origin ("Grandfather Turtle rolled in the sand four times")
The term for the feelings, associations, and ideas a word makes you think of beyond the dictionary definition
Connotation
An introductory speech to a play in which an actor provides the audience with a brief outline of the plot
Prologue
The musical features of a poem, including rhythm, stress, and sound patterns
Prosody
Romeo is exiled from the city for this reason
For killing Tybalt
The speaker in "The Immigrant's Song" repeats "Let us not" to suggest avoiding this
Speaking about the good and bad memories of the place that they come from