Poetry Terms & Drama Terms
Poetry Terms
Alliteration: repetition of consonant sounds in words that are close to one another.
Allusion: a reference to a statement, person, place, event, or thing that is known from literature, history, religion, mythology, politics, sports, or pop culture.
Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds.
Couplet: two lines, usually in the same meter and joined by rhyme, that form a unit.
Free verse: poetry that has no regular meter or rhyme scheme.
Hyperbole: exaggeration.
Iamb: a unit in poetry consisting of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
Iambic pentameter: a poetic line containing five iambs, or ten syllables.
Imagery: language that evokes the senses, especially visual description.
Line: element of a verse or stanza; a phrase or sentence.
Metaphor: a comparison not using “like” or “as,” usually of two unlike things.
Meter: the rhythm of the poem; regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry.
Motif: a theme or idea repeated in design or pattern in a work of literature.
Onomatopoeia: the use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning; ex.buzz, knock, splash, bark, crash.
Oxymoron: a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear together.
Personification: giving human characteristics to a non-human thing.
Pun: a joke exploiting the difference possible meanings of a word
Refrain: a repeated line or number of lines in a poem, typically at the end of each verse.
Rhyme scheme: the pattern of rhymed lines; ex. AABBCC.
Setting: the time and place of the poem; it establishes atmosphere, contributes to the emotional effect.
Simile: a comparison using “like” or “as.”
Sonnet: a poem of fourteen lines, with a formal rhyme scheme, and typically ten syllables per line.
Speaker: the voice that is talking to us in the poem.
Symbol: a thing that stands for itself and something else.
Theme: the subject or message conveyed in a work of literature.
Tone: feeling.
Verse or stanza: a group of lines forming a unit in a poem.
Drama terms
Act: a main division in a play.
Aside: words spoken by a character in a play, usually in an undertone, not intended to be heard by other characters on stage.
Blank verse: verses written in iambic pentameter with no rhyme scheme.
Comedy: a literary work that is amusing and/or ends happily.
Dialogue: conversations held by characters.
Drama: a story acted out by actors who take parts of specific characters.
Dramatic irony: a device whereby the audience is given information regarding a situation that the characters involved do not have.
Epilogue: a short speech at the end of the play which provides further comment or information.
Foil: a character who sets off another character by contrast.
Prologue: a short speech at the beginning of a play which introduces the action.
Scene: a division in a play which marks a change in the time or place of the play’s action.
Soliloquy: a speech in which a character, alone on stage, expresses his or her thoughts aloud.
Tragedy: a serious play in which the central characters meet an unhappy or disastrous end.