1. Shakespeare’s Writing
A guide to tragedies, soliloquies, dramatic irony, iambic pentameter, and sonnets

2. Tragedy In drama, tragedy refers to:
A dramatic composition dealing with a serious theme, typically that of a great person destined for a downfall due to a character flaw or fate
Tragedies usually end poorly and sad—they’re tragic—duh!!

3. Soliloquy
A soliloquy is when a character in a play gives a speech while he/she is alone on stage
It is the way authors show us what that character is thinking—it is supposed to be their internal thoughts

4. Dramatic Irony
Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows/sees what is happening but the character in the play does not
Think about when the girl goes down the stairs in the horror movie but you’re saying to her “don’t do that!” because you know the monster is there and she doesn’t
Maybe this could be when a character thinks she is giving a soliloquy but really that jerk Romeo is hiding under her balcony??

5. Stanza A division or unit of a poem that is repeated in the same form
Similar or identical patterns or rhyme and meter
Variations from one stanza to another

6. Rhyme Scheme
The pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song
Usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme
Lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other

7. Meter
The measured pattern of rhythmic accents in poems

8. Iambic Pentameter Iambic Pentameter
These are some fancy words that have to do with the rhythm (the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables) of a line of poetry

9. Blank Verse A line of poetry or prose in unrhymed iambic pentameter
For example: “Birches”
When I see birches bend to left and right / Across the lines of straighter darker trees, / I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.

10. Couplet
A pair of rhymed lines than may or may not constitute a separate stanza in a poem
Usually found at the end of a sonnet
For example: Shakespeare’s sonnets
“For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings / That then I scorn to change my state with kings.”

11. Sonnet A fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter
The Shakespearean or English sonnet is arranged as three quatrains and a final couplet
Rhyme-abab cdcd efef gg
The Petrarchan or Italian sonnet divides into parts: an eight-line octave and a six-line sestet
Rhyme-abba abba cde cde OR abba abba cd cd cd

12. Simile
A figure of speech involving a comparison between unlike things using like, as or as though
For example:
“My love is like a red, red rose.”

13. Metaphor
A comparison between essentially unlike things without an explicitly comparative word such as like or as
For example:
“My love is a red, red rose.”

14. Personification
The endowment of inanimate objects or abstract concepts with animate or living qualities.
For example:
“The yellow leaves flaunted their color gaily in the breeze.”

15. Alliteration
The repetition of consonant sounds, especially at the beginning of words
For example:
“Fetched fresh, as I suppose, off some sweet wood.”

16. i KNOW you WILL beGIN to UNderSTAND!
Iam
It just means you go “unstressed, stressed”
Penta
It means “group of five” so you’ve got five sets of “unstressed, stressed” This means that there are TEN syllables in an iambic pentameter line
=Iam(bic) Penta(meter)!
Can you read the title of this slide in iambic pentameter?

17. i AM a PIrate WITH a WOODen LEG!
Let’s walk it out…

18. SmartBoard Practice with Iambic Pentameter

19. Shakespearean Sonnet Shakespearean Sonnet
A Shakespearean sonnet is a 14 line poem that is written in iambic pentameter and follows a specific rhyme scheme
Three quatrains followed by a rhymed couplet
Oh yeah, that couplet usually gives you some kind of key to unlock the meaning of the poem…

20. What were all those words?
Rhyme Scheme:
The rhyming pattern an poet uses
Shakesperean sonnet’s rhyme scheme is:
abab, cdcd, efef, gg
Quatrain:
-A verse of poetry that is four lines long (quad)
Couplet:
Can you guess?
Yep! 2 lines long! (couple)

21. Here’s what it looks like:
A B first quatrain B C D second quatrain D E F third quatrain F G final couplet G

22. SmartBoard Practice with Sonnet