Shakespeare Literary Terms

3. a speech by one character in a play.
5. irony a writer or speaker says one thing, but really means something completely different
6. a group who says things at the same time
9. a play on the multiple meanings of a word, or on two words that sound alike but have different meanings
12. a story written to be acted for an audience.
15. fourteen-line lyric poem that is usually written in iambic pentameter
16. an unusually long speech in which a character who is on stage alone expresses his or her thoughts aloud.
17. character character who does not change much in the course of a story.
18. 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
19. direct, unadorned form of language, written or spoken, in ordinary use
20. character who is used as a contrast to another character

1. a narrative that depicts serious and important events
2. a short introduction at the beginning of a play
4. poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter
7. a combination of contradictory terms
8. irony the audience or reader knows something important that a character in a play or story does not know
10. relief humor added that lessens the seriousness of a plot.
11. character character who changes as a result of the story’s events
13. event or detail that is inappropriate for the time period
14. two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme