| Aside | Definition:When a character’s dialogue is spoken but not heard by the other actors on the stage.Example: “(Aside) Is she a Capulet? O dear Account! My life is my foe’s debt.” |
| Blank Verse | Definition: Verse without rhyme, especially that which uses iambic pentameter.Example: “Put up your swords; you know not what you do.” |
| Characterization | Definition: A description of the distinctive nature or features of someone or something.Example:”In shape no bigger than an agate stone… Her wagons poles made of long spinners legs the cover of the wings of grasshoppers.” |
| Couplet | Definition: Two rhyming lines of iambic pentameterExample: “This precious book of love, this unbound lover, to beautify him only lacks a cover.” |
| Epithet | Definition: A name someone is given (usually long)Example: “Enemies to peace.” |
| Figurative language | Definition: Words or expressions with a meaning that is different from the literal interpretation.Example: “Can I go forward when my heart is here?” – Romeo – Hyperbole |
| Foil | Definition: A character who contrasts with another character.Example: Tybault is motivated by hate and Romeo is motivated by love. |
| Foreshadowing | Definition: Hints the futureExample: This is when Romeo was talking about the event that might lead to his death. |
| Metaphor | Definition: A comparison without using like or as.Example: “What, ho! You men, you beat, that quench the fire of your pernicious rage With purple fountains issuing from your veins…” |
| Simile | Definition: A comparison using like or as.Example: “O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she hands upon the cheek of night Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear.” |
| Pun | Definition: A play on words.Example: “You have dancing shoes with nimble soles.” |
| Paradox | Definition: A statement that contradicts itself and still seems true somehow.Example: “My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late.” |
| Oxymoron | Definition: Two opposite ideas are joined to create an effect.Example: “O loving hate.” |
| Alliteration | Definition: Two or more words in a phrase or line of poetry share the same beginning sound.Example: “From forth the fatal loins of these two foes.” |
Romeo and Juliet – Act 1 Study Guide – Literary terms
December 10, 2019