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Literary Devices
Dramtic Literary Devices- Grade 10 English
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Drama | A literary art form that recreates human life and emotions. The medium is dialogue and action within a frame or sequential events. Drama has both a written form (a script) and a living form (the stage of presentation) |
| Comedy | A form of drama to amuse and that ends happily. The use of wit and humour are used. |
| Tragedy | focuses on the downfall of the protag. and end unhappily. This hero is often an individual of higher rank, who faces a tragic end because of several poor decisions. A downfall results when greed, pride or ambition override a hero's otherwise good sense |
| Act | One of the main divisions of the play . Shakespeare favoured the five act structure for his play. |
| Aside | A character reveals his/her true feelings by directly addressing the audience. Usually occurs when the character is alone on stage and provides an opportunity for puns and foreshadowing. |
| Scene | This refers to a small unit of a play in which there is no shift in locale or time. |
| Chorus | A character or group of characters who give comments on the play which link acts or foreshadow coming events. |
| Exeunt | Exeunt is the plural of exit. It means "they exit" |
| Prologue | An opening section of a drama, a kind of introduction. |
| Sonnet | A short poem with 14 lines and a strict rhyme scheme. There are several types of sonnets, each with its own different rhyme scheme. a/b/a/b/ c/d/c/d/ e/f/e/f/ g/g is the sonnet found in Shakspearen sonnets |
| Rhyming couplet | A pair of successive lines of poetry that rhyme. Usually found at the end of a sonnet. |
| Allusion | A reference to a person, place or event or to another literary work or passage . Serves to illustrate or clarify or enhance a subject. |
| Foreshadowing | An authoritative use of "hints" which prepares the reader for future events of the outcome. |
| Imagery | They are the play writer's way of creating an atmosphere in which to tell his story. Imagery is the recurrent use of "picture words". It provides and imaginative, yet vivid, specific description. |
| Hyperbole | Exaggeration used to create a specific effect. |
| Metaphor | A figure of speech used to imply rather than directly express a comparison between 2 objects . |
| Simile | figure of speech used to directly express a comparison between 2 objects. |
| Paradox | When a character says something that sounds contrary or absurd, but which holds some truth to it. |
| Pathetic Fallacy | A figure of speech that describes nature or inanimate things in a way that is sympathetic to or prophetic about the events in the plot and/ or the emotions of the characters. |
| Personification | A figure of speech in which a quality or idea represented by human qualities or nature is portrayed as having human feelings, intelligence or emotions |
| Pun | A play on words: used artfully by Shakespeare for a comedy and often creates irony. It is the humorous use of a word or of words which are formed (homographs) or sound alike (homophones) but have different meanings. |
| Understatment | Weakly stating or expressing feelings or ideas for effect |
| Tragic hero | Is torn by an internal conflict. The hero simply makes a wrong choice which triggers series of negative events. Once the bad decision is made, the hero is to stop the tragedy. |
| Tragic flaw | A negative quality or weakness within the hero. Often leads him to make a poor decision which leads to his downfall. Greed, ambition, indecision, jealousy, blindness and thirst for power are common flaws. |
| Hubris | Excessive pride or self confidence which leads to a downfall. often a tragic flaw of Shakespeare's tragic characters |
| Catharsis | An emotional purification or relief. a purification of emotions, as pity or fear, primarily through art, a spiritual renewal |
| Nemesis | Refers to a character who is an archenemy of the protagonist; can be considered the antagonist in a short story. |
| Humour | Word play - puns, use of satire, intending to entertain |
| Foil | A character, usually minor, who contrasts with and therefore sheds light on the protagonist |
| Pathos | The portrayal of an incident which arouses feelings of pity and sadness in the reader |
| Poetic justice | An ideal situation in which good in rewarded and evil is punished. |
Created by:
caitlynkummer
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