Understanding Poetry and Shakespearean Concepts

Poetry Terms Poetic Structure and Form 1. Structure: Described in terms of stanza, form, and meter. 2. Stanza: A group of lines in a poem, considered a unit. Often, the stanzas in a poem are separated by spaces. 3. Repetition: The use of a sound, word, phrase, clause, or sentence more than once. 4. Rhythm: The arrangement, or pattern, of accented and unaccented syllables – the “beat”. 5. Rhyme Scheme: The regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem; the rhyme scheme of a poem is indicated by using different letters of the alphabet for each new rhyme. 6. Rhyme: the repetition of sounds at the end of words. 7. End Rhyme: when the rhyming words come at the ends of lines. 8. Internal Rhyme: rhyming words appear in the same line in a poem. 9. Meter: the pattern of accented and unaccented syllables that form that basis of the poem’s rhythm; meter signifies the number of rhythmic beats, or “feet” in a line and the arrangement of accented and unaccented syllables in each foot. (i.e. - pentameter: a line with five beats, or feet) 10. Enjambment: (in verse) the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza. 11. Prose: written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure. Shakespearean Poetry Terms 12. Eye rhyme: words whose spellings lead you to think that they rhyme: Tut! I have lost myself; I am not here; This is not Romeo, he is some other where. What it does: creates a charmed effect, marks important moments. 13. Sonnet: A fourteen-line lyric poem; 3 quatrains and 1 couplet; usually rhyming 14. Shakespearean Sonnet: Consists of 3 quatrains and a couplet; a 14-lined poem, usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter; abab cdcd efef gg. 15. Quatrain: A stanza or poem made up of four lines with rhythm and rhyme. 16. Couplet: A pair of rhyming lines, usually in the same length and meter. What is it else? A madness most discreet, A choking gall, and a preserving sweet. What it does: creates a charmed effect, marks important moments. 17. Iamb: One unstressed and one stressed syllable in a 5-foot line. 18. Blank Verse: Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. (Poetry that does not rhyme but has a line of five beats.) These times/ of woe/ afford/ no time/ to woo. What it does: adds a musical quality to the play’s language. 19. Free Verse: Verse without a regular arrangement of accented and unaccented syllables; it is free of the restrictions of a set rhythmical pattern for each line. However, since free verse poetry is divided into lines, the movement from one line to the next establishes a kind of rhythm. Figurative Language 20. Apostrophe (imagery). The direct address of a person or a personified thing. It often interrupts the discussion. * O books, who alone are liberal and free, who give to all who ask of you and enfranchise all who serve you faithfully! --Ibid. * O value of wisdom that fadeth not away with time… --Richard de Bury * O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! --Luke 13:34 What it does: gives vent to, displays intense emotion. 21. Alliteration (sound). The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of two or more words. * My mom makes maple muffins. * How silver-sweet sound lover’s tongues by night. What it does: calls attention to the phrase and fixes it in the reader’s mind. 22. Allusion (imagery): a reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art. * If you take his parking place, you can expect World War II all over again. * Plan ahead: it wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark. * They say Jove laughs. What it does: gives writing variety and energy, explains something difficult. The best sources to use are from literature, history, Greek myth and the Bible. 23. Metaphor: A figure of speech comparing one thing to another without using like or as; one thing is said to be another. * The mind is but a barren soil; a soil which is soon exhausted and will produce no crop…unless it be continually fertilized and enriched with foreign matter. --Joshua Reynolds * A writer’s river of words will dry up unless it is continuously replenished by streams of new learning. * It is the East and Juliet is the sun. 24. Extended Metaphor: as in a regular metaphor, a subject is spoken or written of as though it were something else. However, an extended metaphor differs from a regular metaphor in that several comparisons are made. What it does: sparks the imagination of the reader and makes a powerful statement about the quality of the person/object which is being compared. 25. Hyperbole (imagery). The use of exaggeration. * I ate a whole cow at dinner! * If thou prate of mountains let them throw millions of acres on us. What it does: emphasizes the extreme to make a point. 26. Oxymoron (verbal opposition/wordplay). A paradox reduced to two words, usually in an adjective-noun or adverb-adjective relationship. * wise fool, buy now and save, free with purchase, almost exactly, act naturally, bagpipe music, deafening silence, hard water, Holy War, genuine imitation What it does: emphasizes contrasts, points out hypocrisy or shows the complex nature of things. 27. Paradox (verbal opposition). A statement that seems contradictory but is actually true. * The fight brought us closer together. * Absence makes the heart grow fonder. * She speaks, yet she says nothing. What it does: points out ironic truth about the nature of things. 28. Pun (verbal opposition/wordplay). A play on words based on the similarity of sound between words with different meanings. * What do you get if you divide the circumference of a pumpkin by its diameter? Pumpkin pi. * The climate is hottest next to the Creator. (equator) * Iron was discovered because someone smelt (smelled) it. * You have dancing shoes with nimble soles; I have a soul of lead. What it does: makes a joke, has fun with language, lightens the mood. 28. Consonance: The repetition in two or more words of the final consonants in stressed syllables. * Whose woods these are I think I know. * His house is in the village though; * He will not see me stopping here * To watch his woods fill up with snow. --Robert Frost, “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening * And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain --Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven” What it does: calls attention to the phrase and fixes it in the reader’s mind. 30. Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds followed by different consonants in two or more stressed syllables. · Poetry is old, ancient, goes back far. It is among the oldest of living things. So old it is that no man knows how and why the first poems came. --Carl Sandburg, Early Moon · And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride. --Edgar Allan Poe, "Annabel Lee” · And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain --Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven” What it does: calls attention to the phrase and fixes it in the reader’s mind. SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDY 1. There were certain rules for writing which came from the ancient Greeks. 2. The playwright never created his own story. Instead he took an old, well-known story and re-created it, improved it. All the events remained the same; characterization became the main focus of the play. 3. All plays had five acts. 4. Each act was divided into scenes. There could be any number of scenes in an act. 5. Each scene was divided into lines. 6. To indicate an act, upper case Roman numerals are used. Example: Act III 7. To indicate a scene, lower case Roman numerals are used. Example: scene iii 8. To indicate lines, Arabic numbers are used. Example: 3-33 (III, iii, 3-33-----This means Act Three, scene three, lines three through thirty-three) 9. The first scene was exposition. 10. The climax always occurred in Act III. 11. Events occurring in the rising action called complications resulted in the climax. 12. Events occurring in the falling action called complications resulted in the catastrophe. ELEMENTS OF PLOT USED IN DRAMA EXPOSITION: Creates the tone, gives the setting, introduces some of the characters, and supplies facts necessary for the understanding of the play. RISING ACTION: The antagonist and the protagonist are balanced against each other. CLIMAX: Always occurs in the third act of a Shakespearean drama. It is the turning point of the action where the action turns from good to bad. COMPLICATIONS: Events which serve to further the climax or catastrophe. FALLING ACTION: The continuous downfall of the protagonist(s). It prepares the audience for the next phase of the play. CATASTROPHE: The tragic failure, usually the death, of the hero and comes as the natural outgrowth of the action. DENOUEMENT: The resolution of the play where the tragedy is explained and a solution to the problem is given for future reference. The denouement sometimes presents a moral. TERMS USED IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA TRAGEDY: A drama which tells of an important and related series of events in the life of a person of significance. The events usually end in an unhappy catastrophe. The whole drama is treated with great seriousness and dignity. SOLILOQUY: A speech of a character in a play delivered while the speaker is alone on stage. The speech is designed to inform the audience or reader of what is passing through the character’s mind or to give information concerning other participants in the action which is essential for the reader to know. ASIDE: Words spoken by an actor to be heard by the audience only and not by the actors on the stage. DRAMATIC IRONY: The words or acts of a character in a play may carry meaning unknown to him, but understood by the audience. Usually the character’s own interests are involved in a way which cannot be understood. PROTAGONIST: The chief character in the play. He may have heroic qualities. He is usually a person of high rank. ANTAGONIST: The chief opponent of the protagonist; his rival. FATE: Circumstances which cannot be controlled by humans. TRAGIC FLAW: A certain quality in a character’s personality (usually in the protagonist’s personality) which causes his own downfall and ends in tragedy. FREE WILL: The ability of a character in the play to make his own decisions and shape his own future. Fate and free will are usually opposing each other in Shakespearean drama. PATHOS: The suffering of a character and the feeling that the audience has for the characters. Pity is another word for pathos. HUMOROUS RELIEF: Elements of humor in the play that serve to relieve tension in the audience. CHORUS: The actor who sets the tone of the play, introduces the characters, and/or explains the plot of the play. The chorus will appear at the beginning of the play and before acts. He may also appear at the end of the play to provide closure for the audience. PUNS: Humorous play on words indicating different meanings. Puns were a popular means of providing humor.

17.  Iamb:  One unstressed and one stressed syllable in a 5-foot line.
 
18.  Blank Verse:  Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. (Poetry that does not rhyme but has a line of five beats.)
 
These times/ of woe/ afford/ no time/ to woo.                 
What it does: adds a musical quality to the play’s language.
 
19.  Free Verse:  Verse without a regular arrangement of accented and unaccented syllables;  it is free of the restrictions of a set rhythmical pattern for each line.  However, since free verse poetry is divided into lines, the movement from one line to the next establishes a kind of rhythm.
 
Figurative Language

20. Apostrophe (imagery).  The direct address of a person or a personified thing.  It often interrupts the discussion.
 
* O books, who alone are liberal and free, who give to all who ask of you and enfranchise all who serve you faithfully!                                --Ibid.
* O value of wisdom that fadeth not away with time…        --Richard de Bury
* O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her!  --Luke 13:34
 
What it does: gives vent to, displays intense emotion.
 
21.  Alliteration (sound).  The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of two or more words.
 
* My mom makes maple muffins.
* How silver-sweet sound lover’s tongues by night.
 
What it does: calls attention to the phrase and fixes it in the reader’s mind.
 
22.  Allusion (imagery):  a reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art.
* If you take his parking place, you can expect World War II all over again.
* Plan ahead: it wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.
* They say Jove laughs.
What it does: gives writing variety and energy, explains something difficult.  The best sources to use are from literature, history, Greek myth and the Bible.

23. Metaphor:  A figure of speech comparing one thing to another without using like or as;  one thing is said to be another.
* The mind is but a barren soil; a soil which is soon exhausted and will produce no crop…unless it be continually fertilized and enriched with foreign matter.  --Joshua Reynolds
* A writer’s river of words will dry up unless it is continuously replenished by streams of new learning.
* It is the East and Juliet is the sun.
 
24.  Extended Metaphor:  as in a regular metaphor, a subject is spoken or written of as though it were something else.  However, an extended metaphor differs from a regular metaphor in that several comparisons are made.
         What it does: sparks the imagination of the reader and makes a powerful statement about the quality of the
person/object which is being compared.
 
25. Hyperbole (imagery).  The use of exaggeration.
* I ate a whole cow at dinner!
* If thou prate of mountains let them throw millions of acres on us.
What it does: emphasizes the extreme to make a point.
 
26. Oxymoron (verbal opposition/wordplay).  A paradox reduced to two words, usually in an adjective-noun or adverb-adjective relationship.
* wise fool, buy now and save, free with purchase, almost exactly, act naturally, bagpipe music, deafening silence, hard water, Holy War, genuine imitation
What it does: emphasizes contrasts, points out hypocrisy or shows the complex nature of things.
 
27. Paradox (verbal opposition).  A statement that seems contradictory but is actually true. 
* The fight brought us closer together.
* Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
* She speaks, yet she says nothing.
What it does: points out ironic truth about the nature of things.

28. Pun (verbal opposition/wordplay).  A play on words based on the similarity of sound between words with different meanings.
* What do you get if you divide the circumference of a pumpkin by its diameter?  Pumpkin pi.
* The climate is hottest next to the Creator.  (equator)
* Iron was discovered because someone smelt (smelled) it.
* You have dancing shoes with nimble soles; I have a soul of lead.
What it does: makes a joke, has fun with language, lightens the mood.
 
28.  Consonance:  The repetition in two or more words of the final consonants in stressed syllables.
* Whose woods these are I think I know. 
* His house is in the village though; 
* He will not see me stopping here 
* To watch his woods fill up with snow.
                                                                                                                  --Robert Frost, “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening
* And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
                                                                                                                               --Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven”
What it does: calls attention to the phrase and fixes it in the reader’s mind.
 
30.  Assonance:  The repetition of vowel sounds followed by different consonants in two or more stressed syllables.
·        Poetry is old, ancient, goes back far. It is among the oldest of living things. So old it is that no man knows how and why the first poems came.
                                                                                                                                   --Carl Sandburg, Early Moon
·        And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride.
                                                                                                                                 --Edgar Allan Poe, "Annabel Lee”
·        And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain  
                                                                                                                               --Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven”
What it does: calls attention to the phrase and fixes it in the reader’s mind.
 
SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDY 
1.      There were certain rules for writing which came from the ancient Greeks.
 2.      The playwright never created his own story.  Instead he took an old, well-known story and re-created it, improved it.  All the events remained the same; characterization became the main focus of the play.
 3.      All plays had five acts.
 4.      Each act was divided into scenes.  There could be any number of scenes in an act.
 5.      Each scene was divided into lines.
 6.      To indicate an act, upper case Roman numerals are used. Example: Act III
 7.      To indicate a scene, lower case Roman numerals are used.  Example: scene iii
 8.      To indicate lines, Arabic numbers are used.  Example: 3-33  (III, iii, 3-33-----This means Act Three, scene three, lines three through thirty-three)
 9.      The first scene was exposition.
 10.   The climax always occurred in Act III.
 11.   Events occurring in the rising action called complications resulted in the climax.
 12.   Events occurring in the falling action called complications resulted in the catastrophe.

ELEMENTS OF PLOT USED IN DRAMA
EXPOSITION:  Creates the tone, gives the setting, introduces some of the characters, and supplies facts necessary for the understanding of the play.
 
RISING ACTION:  The antagonist and the protagonist are balanced against each other.
 
CLIMAX:  Always occurs in the third act of a Shakespearean drama.  It is the turning point of the action where the action turns from good to bad.
 
COMPLICATIONS:  Events which serve to further the climax or catastrophe.

FALLING ACTION:  The continuous downfall of the protagonist(s). It prepares the audience for the next phase of the play.

CATASTROPHE:  The tragic failure, usually the death, of the hero and comes as the natural outgrowth of the action.
 
DENOUEMENT:  The resolution of the play where the tragedy is explained and a solution to the problem is given for future reference.  The denouement sometimes presents a moral.

TERMS USED IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA
TRAGEDY:  A drama which tells of an important and related series of events in the life of a person of significance.  The events usually end in an unhappy catastrophe.  The whole drama is treated with great seriousness and dignity.
 
SOLILOQUY:  A speech of a character in a play delivered while the speaker is alone on stage.  The speech is designed to inform the audience or reader of what is passing through the character’s mind or to give information concerning other participants in the action which is essential for the reader to know.
 
ASIDE:  Words spoken by an actor to be heard by the audience only and not by the actors on the stage.
 
DRAMATIC IRONY:  The words or acts of a character in a play may carry meaning unknown to him, but understood by the audience.  Usually the character’s own interests are involved in a way which cannot be understood.
 
PROTAGONIST:  The chief character in the play.  He may have heroic qualities.  He is usually a person of high rank.
 
ANTAGONIST:  The chief opponent of the protagonist; his rival.
 
FATE:  Circumstances which cannot be controlled by humans.
 
TRAGIC FLAW:  A certain quality in a character’s personality (usually in the protagonist’s personality) which causes his own downfall and ends in tragedy.
 
FREE WILL:  The ability of a character in the play to make his own decisions and shape his own future.  Fate and free will are usually opposing each other in Shakespearean drama.
 
PATHOS:  The suffering of a character and the feeling that the audience has for the characters.  Pity is another word for pathos.
 
HUMOROUS RELIEF:  Elements of humor in the play that serve to relieve tension in the audience.
 
CHORUS:  The actor who sets the tone of the play, introduces the characters, and/or explains the plot of the play.  The chorus will appear at the beginning of the play and before acts.  He may also appear at the end of the play to provide closure for the audience.
 
PUNS:  Humorous play on words indicating different meanings.  Puns were a popular means of providing humor.

Transcript for:Understanding Poetry and Shakespearean Concepts

Transcript for:
Understanding Poetry and Shakespearean Concepts