State Exam Terms and Examples Drama and Literary Terms

● Figurative language means using words to imply another meaning or to evoke an emotion. ● Opposite of literal language which refers to a phrase or sentence that is to be taken at face value to mean exactly what it says. ● Literal: Joe went outside of the box. ● Figurative: Joe went outside of the box. ● Purpose: By using figurative language, writers can evoke emotion and imagery from their writing that literal language just cannot provide. By doing so, figurative language makes expressing meaning through writing easier and more relatable to the reader. Figurative Language

● Simile: You define on the lines ● Metaphor: You define on the lines ● Compose one example of each on the lines Simile and Metaphor

● Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration for extra effect. ● Focus on the root hyper! ● Mary’s house is so big that the entire population of the city can fit into it.” By exaggerating the size of Mary’s house so dramatically, there is no question in the reader’s mind about how large Mary’s house is. ● Hyperbole is also frequently used in comedy to offer a humorous description of somebody or something. Likewise, it could be used to evoke the emotion of fear. Hyperbole

● Puns are a form of word play which take advantage of words, or similar sounding words, with multiple meanings, often to create a humorous situation or joke. Puns can sometimes be created unintentionally, in which case the saying ‘no pun intended’ is used. ● Two fish are in a tank. One says to the other, “Err...so how do you drive this thing?” ● A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab centre said: 'Keep off the Grass.‘ ● Does the name Pavlov ring a bell? Puns

● A casual reference in literature to a person, place, event, or another passage of literature, often without explicit identification. ● Authors assume that the readers will recognize the original sources and relate their meaning to the new context. For instance, if a teacher were to refer to his class as a horde of Mongols, the students will have no idea if they are being praised or vilified unless they know what the Mongol horde was and what activities it participated in historically. This historical allusion assumes a certain level of education or awareness in the audience, so it should normally be taken as a compliment rather than an insult or an attempt at obscurity. Allusion

● Saying one thing and meaning another." Irony comes in many forms. ● Verbal irony is when a speaker makes a statement in which its actual meaning differs sharply from the meaning that the words express. Often this sort of irony is plainly sarcastic in the eyes of the reader, but the characters listening in the story may not realize the speaker's sarcasm as quickly as the readers do. ● Dramatic irony involves a situation in a narrative in which the reader knows something about present or future circumstances that the character does not know. In that situation, the character acts in a way we recognize to be grossly inappropriate to the actual circumstances, or the character expects the opposite of what the reader knows that fate holds in store, or the character anticipates a particular outcome that unfolds itself in an unintentional way. ● Situational irony is a trope in which accidental events occur that seem oddly appropriate, such as the poetic justice of a pickpocket getting his own pocket picked. Irony

● Sometimes abbreviated "s.d.," the term in drama refers to part of the printed text in a play that is not actually spoken by actors on stage, but which instead indicates actions or activity for the actors to engage in. Stage Directions

● A literary device that is used when a character reveals his or her innermost thoughts and feelings, those that are hidden throughout the course of the story line, through a poem or a speech. This speech, where only one character speaks, is recited while other characters are present onstage. This monologue often comes during a climactic moment in a work and often reveals hidden truths about a character, their history and their relationships. Also it can further develop a character's personality and also be used to create irony Monologue

● A monologue spoken by an actor at a point in the play when the character believes himself to be alone. The technique frequently reveals a character's innermost thoughts, including his feelings, state of mind, motives or intentions. The soliloquy often provides necessary but otherwise inaccessible information to the audience. ● The dramatic convention is that whatever a character says in a soliloquy to the audience must be true, or at least true in the eyes of the character speaking (i.e., the character may tell lies to mislead other characters in the play, but whatever he states in a soliloquy is a true reflection of what the speaker believes or feels). Soliloquy