1. Dramatic Literary Terms
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream

2. Comedy and Tragedy

3. blank verse
poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter

4. catastrophe
the action of the end of a tragedy that initiates the dénouement or falling action

5. catharsis
the purging of the feelings of pity and fear that, according to Aristotle, occur in the audience of tragic drama

6. character
a character is a person or an animal who takes part in the action of a literary work (round: many different traits; flat: only one trait)

7. comedy
a literary work, especially a play, that has a happy ending

8. dramatic personae
Latin for the characters or personas in a play

9. dramatic monologue
a poem or speech in which a fictional character addresses the listener

10. foil
a character who provides a contrast to another character (in R&J the fiery Tybalt is a foil for the good-natured Benvolio)

11. iambic pentameter
a common meter in poetry consisting of an unrhymed line with five feet or accents, each foot containing an unaccented syllable and an accented syllable (translation: ten beats per line, stress on every other beat)

12. pathos
a quality of a play’s actions that stimulates the audience to feel pity for a character (pathos is always an aspect of tragedy and sometimes an aspect of comedy)

13. plot (elements in Shakespearean drama)
the sequence of events in a literary work (exposition, exciting force, rising action, climax, falling action, catastrophe)

14. sonnet
a fourteen-line lyric poem, usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter with a specific rhyme scheme

15. stage directions
notes included in a drama to describe how the work is to be performed or staged

16. in addition
in addition to the terms within this PowerPoint, students are responsible for the “Glossary of Terms” handout and a review of last semester’s literary devices (on wiki at itsmillertime.pbworks.com), especially antagonist, dialogue, and protagonist