drama terms Flashcards
(20 cards)
What is a soliloquy?
A literary device in the form of a speech or monologue spoken by a single character in a theatrical play or drama - alone on the stage.
What is blank verse?
A literary device defined as an un-rhyming verse written in iambic pentameter.
What are character foils?
A literary device designed to illustrate or reveal information, traits, values, or motivations of one character through comparison and contrast of another character.
What is a tragic hero?
A type of character in a tragedy, usually the protagonist, who has heroic traits that earn the sympathy of the audience but has flaws or mistakes that lead to their downfall.
What are asides?
Short comments or speeches that a character delivers directly to the audience, or to himself, while other actors on the stage appear not to hear.
What are allusions?
When a writer mentions some other work, or refers to an earlier part of the current work.
What is dramatic irony?
A plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character’s understanding of a given situation and that of the audience.
What is comic relief?
A literary device used in plays and novels to introduce light entertainment between tragic scenes.
Examples include humorous incidents, funny remarks, or laughing commentary.
What are puns?
A literary device also known as a ‘play on words’, involving similar or identical sounds but with different meanings, meant to be humorous.
What is a synopsis?
A brief summary that gives audiences an idea of what a composition is about, providing an overview of the storyline or main points.
What is dialogue?
Means ‘conversation’, including any case of two or more characters speaking to each other directly.
What is tragedy?
A genre of story in which a hero is brought down by his/her own flaws, usually by ordinary human flaws like greed or over ambition.
What is an act?
One of the main divisions of a play.
What is a scene?
One of the subdivisions of a play.
What is a couplet?
A literary device featuring two consecutive lines of poetry that typically rhyme and have the same meter.
What is an elegy?
A form of poetry that typically reflects on death or loss, addressing themes of sorrow and mourning.
What is inversion?
Also known as ‘anastrophe’, a literary technique in which the normal order of words is reversed to achieve a particular effect of emphasis or meter.
What is a quatrain?
Four lines of a verse, a foundational poetic device compatible with different rhythmic patterns and rhyme schemes.
What is a monologue?
A literary device featuring a speech made by a single character in a work of literature or dramatic work, allowing a character to address others present or the audience.
What is confessional poetry?
A twentieth-century term used to describe poetry that uses intimate material from the poet’s life.
