Drama UnitTerms & DefinitionsEnglish 9

Drama Terms

Comedy dramatic work that has a happy ending, and a tone/style that is more light-hearted

Tragedy

dramatic work that presents the downfall of a dignified character through their own actions

Dramatic structure

the organization of a play (acts & scenes)

Drama literature intended for performance by actors on a stage

Tragic Flaw

fatal error in judgment or weakness in a character that leads to his or her destruction

Tragic Hero

protagonist in a tragedy; faces defeat with great courage and dignity

Comic Relief

humorous scene, incident, or speech that relieves the overall emotional intensity of a tragedy

Chorus group of performers who stood outside the action; commented on characters and hinted at events to come

Dramatic Conventions

Devices that audiences accept as realistic even though it does not reflect real life

Aside dramatic convention where the character speaks thoughts aloud; intended to be heard by audience but not other characters

Monologue

long, uninterrupted speech by one character

Soliloquy speech in which a character expresses his/her thoughts out loud for the benefit of the audience

Literature Terms

Allusion reference to a person, place or event the reader is expected to know

Dialogue written conversation between characters

Epithet descriptive adjective or phrase used to characterize someone or something

Foil character who intensifies another character by contrast

Motivation

reason that explains or partially explains why a character thinks, feels, acts, or behaves in a certain way

Irony literary technique that portrays differences between appearance and reality; the opposite of what is expected.

Dramatic Irony

when the audience has knowledge that the characters do not

Situational Irony

contrast between what is expected to happen and what really happens

Verbal Irony

contrast between what is said and what is meant.

Poetic Terms

Prose ordinary form of written language, without rhyme or meter

Verse poetry; literature in metrical formMeter regular pattern of accented and

unaccented syllables in a line of poetry

Pun the use of a word or phrase to suggest two or more meanings at the same time

Oxymoron

figure of speech that combines apparently contradictory terms

Couplet two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme

Iamb syllable pattern of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

Iambic Pentameter

five feet (units) of iamb verse; total of 10 syllables per line

Blank verse unrhymed iambic pentameterSonnet fourteen-line poem; written in

iambic pentameter; one of several rhyme schemes

An iambic foot is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The rhythm can be written as:

da DUM

The da-DUM of a human heartbeat is the most common example of this rhythm.

A line of iambic pentameter is five iambic feet in a row:

da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM

The tick-TOCK rhythm of iambic pentameter can be heard in the opening line of Shakespeare's Sonnet 12:

When I do count the clock that tells the time

It is possible to notate this with a ˘ (breve) mark representing an unstressed syllable and a / (slash) mark representing a stressed syllable.

Let’s Practice!Sonnet XVIII - William ShakespeareShall I compare thee to a summer's day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate:Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

Romeo and Juliet - William ShakespeareBut, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief, That thou her maid art far more fair than she:Richard III – William Shakespeare

Now is the winter of our discontentMade glorious summer by this sun of York; And all the clouds that lour'd upon our houseIn the deep bosom of the ocean buried.