Romeo and Juliet Literary Terms

Act I

Oxymoron

– bringing together two contradictory terms as in “wise fool” or “feather of lead”

• Example: In Act 1, Scene 1 Romeo uses several oxymora (the plural of “oxymoron”) to describe the relationship of love and hate. He says, “O brawling love, O loving hate.”

Allusion

– reference to historical or literary figure, event, or object

• Example: In Act 1, Scene 1 Romeo says that Rosaline “hath Dian’s wit.” He is alluding to Diana, goddess of chastity, who opposed love and marriage. In other words, Rosaline thinks like Diana and will not fall in love with Romeo.

Pun

– a play on words based on the similarity of sound between two words with different meanings

• Example: In Act 1, Scene 4, lines 14-16, Romeo is feeling sad, so he does not want to dance. He says to the others, “You have dancing shoes / With nimble soles. I have a soul of lead / so stakes me to the ground I cannot move.”

Imagery

– representation in words of a vivid sensory experience

• Example: In Act 1, Scene 5, lines 55 and 56, Romeo uses imagery to describe Juliet’s beauty when he says, “So shows a dove trooping with crows”

• What comparison is Romeo making here?

He is comparing her to the beauty of a dove walking among crows (the other women there who are ugly in comparison).

Paradox

– a statement that might seem to contradict itself but is nevertheless true; for example, “less is more.”

• Example: In Act 1, Scene 5, line 152, Juliet expresses a paradox when she speaks of Romeo, saying, “My only love sprung from my only hate.” This seems to be a contradictory statement, because love and hate are opposites.

Iambic Meter

– unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

Iambic Pentameter

– five verse feet with each foot an iamb (a total of ten syllables)

Monologue

– a speech by one character in a play, story, or poem

• Example: the speech in which the Prince of Verona commands the Capulets and Montagues to cease feuding (Act I, Scene I)

Rhyme Scheme

– is a 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. In an aabb stanza, for example, line 1 rhymes with line 2 and line 3 rhymes with line 4.

• Example: Find the rhyme scheme in the

prologue (a b a b e d c d e f e f g g )

Couplet

– is a pair of rhyming lines, usually of the same length and meter. A couplet generally expresses a single idea.

• Example: Give an example from Act I, Scene 1“She hath forsworn to love, ad in that vowDo I live dead that live to tell it now.” Line 220

Act II Literary Terms

Sonnet

- A Shakespearean sonnet consists of 14 lines, each line contains ten syllables, and each line is written in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme in a Shakespearean sonnet is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG in which the last two lines are a rhyming couplet.

• Example: Act I, Scene V – The first fourteen lines of Romeo and Juliet’s first conversation.

• Example: Act II Prologue

Soliloquy

– If a speech is addressed to the speaker himself.

• See Romeo’s first speech in Act II, Scene II

Malapropism

– the substitution of an incorrect word for a word with a similar sound, usually has a comical effect.

• The Nurse using “confidence” instead of “conference” in Act II, Scene IV.

Apostrophe

- when a talker or writer breaks off and directs speech to an imaginary person or abstract quality or idea. In dramatic works and poetry, it is often introduced by the word "O" (not to be confused with the exclamation "oh").

• Act II, Scene II – lines 139-141 O Blessed, blessed night! I am afeard,

Being in night all this is but a dream,

Too flattering-sweet to be substantial.

Dramatic Irony

• When the audience or readers know something the characters do not.

• Example – The audience realizes Romeo is now in love with Juliet, but Mercutio and Benvolio think he is still pining over Rosaline. Act II, Scene I

Personification

• is a metaphor in which a thing or abstraction is represented as a person.

• Example – Act II, Scene II, Lines 4-5

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already sick and pale with grief

Foreshadowing

• Hints of what events are to come

• Act II, Scene IV The love-devouring death do what he dare./ It is enough I may but call her mine