Dramatic Conventions
What dramatic convention occurs when a character speaks their thoughts aloud on stage while alone, revealing their inner feelings to the audience?
Soliloquy
What is the term for the central message or life lesson a story communicates about life?
Theme
What is the main argument or position a writer is trying to prove called?
Claim
How many lines are in a sonnet?
14
What is diction?
An author's choice of words.
What dramatic convention is illustrated when a character delivers a long speech explaining their thoughts or decisions to others on stage?
Monologue
What is the difference between theme and topic?
A topic is the subject, a theme is the message about the subject
What do we call the reasoning used to support a claim?
Evidence
What is the most common meter used in Shakespearean sonnets?
Iambic Pentameter
What do we call the style or personality of a writer that comes through in their writing?
Voice
In drama, what is the term for when the audience knows something that a character does not, creating tension in the scene?
Dramatic Irony
What do we call the way an author reveals a character’s personality through actions, dialogue, and thoughts?
Characterization
When a writer presents the opposing side of an argument, what is that called?
Counterclaim
the term for the specific organizational patterns that authors use to structure their writing, such as cause What is a group of four lines in a poem called?
Quatrain
What is tone?
The author’s attitude toward the subject or audience.
In tragedies, what term describes a character trait—such as ambition—that ultimately leads to the hero’s downfall?
Tragic Flaw
What kind of theme applies broadly to many cultures and time periods, such as “ambition can lead to downfall”?
Universal Theme
What rhetorical device asks a question for effect rather than expecting an answer?
Rhetorical question
In a Shakespearean sonnet, what are the final two rhyming lines called?
Couplet
What do we call the feeling or atmosphere created for the reader?
Mood
When a character speaks directly to the audience while other characters on stage cannot hear them, what dramatic convention is this?
Aside
If a character’s actions create suffering for themselves or others because of a personality trait, what literary element is most likely responsible?
A tragic flaw
What literary device combines two contradictory words, like “jumbo shrimp” or “deafening silence”?
Oxymoron
What is the typical structure of a Shakespearean sonnet?
Three quatrains followed by a rhyming couplet
If an author chooses words like furious, outrageous, ridiculous, and disaster when describing something, what aspect of writing are they most strongly shaping?
Tone