Shakespeare Literacy Terms

1. a group who says things at the same time
7. ("unrhymed"-no rhyme at the end of lines) poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter ("pent" =5; "meter"=measure); each line of poetry contains 5 iambs, or metrical feet, that consist of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
9. a play, novel, or other narrative that depicts serious and important events in which the main character comes to an unhappy ending.
11. character who does not change much in the course of a story.
16. character who changes as a result of the story's events
18. a play on the multiple meanings of a word, or on two words that sound alike but have different meanings.
19. words that are spoken by a character in a play to the audience or to another character but that are not supposed to be overheard by the others onstage

2. fourteen-line lyric poem that is usually written in iambic pentameter and that has one of several rhyme schemes (Shakespearean-3 four-line units or quatrains, followed by a concluding two-line unit, or couplet; abab cdcd efef gg)
3. an unusually long speech in which a character who is on stage alone expresses his or her thoughts aloud.
4. a speech by one character play.
5. a writer or speaker says one thing, but really means something completely different
6. a combination of contradictory terms (EX: jumbo shrimp).
8. humor added that lessens the seriousness of a plot.
10. a short introduction at the beginning of a play that gives a brief overview of the plot
12. event to detail that is inappropriate for the time period.
13. character who is used as a contrast to another character; writer sets off/intensifies the qualities of 2 characters this way.
14. direct, unadorned form of language, written or spoken, in ordinary use
15. a story written to be acted for an audience
17. two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme; couplets often signal the EXIT of a character or end of a scene
20. the audience or reader knows something important that a character in a play or story does not know