Elements of Poetry/Dramatic Terms

Elements of Poetry/Drama

Dramatic Terms: Tragedy

• Tragedy - A narrative about serious and important actions that end unhappily, usually with the death of the main characters.

• In a tragedy, the main characters must fall. The fall is usually death, but not always.

• To remember what a tragedy is, think of Humpty Dumpty.

Multiple Choice

What part of Humpty Dumpty would help you remember a tragedy?

• Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

• Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

• All the king's horses and all the king's men...

• ...couldn't put Humpty together again.

The Parts of a Play: Acts

• Each play is first broken up into acts.

• Think of acts as the different parts of a show between commercial breaks.

• All of Shakespeare's plays always have 5 acts.

Multiple Choice

How many acts are in every Shakespeare play?

• 3

• 4

• 5

• 6

The Parts of the Play: Scenes

• Each act is then broken up into a scene.

• A scene is a small segment that happens in one location. When the location changes, the scene changes.

• The number of scenes in an act varies.

• At times, there may be only be 2. Other acts might have 6. It all just depends.

Multiple Choice

How many scenes are always in each act?

• 2

• 6

• 5

• Hard to tell - it always changes

Dramatic Terminology: Speeches/Dialogue

• Monologue: A long uninterrupted speech given by one character onstage to everyone.

• Soliloquy: A long uninterrupted speech given by one character alone on stage, inaudible to other characters

• Aside:  A break in dialogue where a short speech given by one character, traditionally the other characters cannot hear even though they are on stage at the same time.

• Dialogue: Talking between two or more characters.

Multiple Choice

Which type of speech is given by a character on stage alone and nobody else can hear them?

• Monologue

• Soliloquy

• Aside

• Dialogue

Poetic Terminology

• Couplets: Two consecutive lines that rhyme (aa bb cc).  Usually followed when a character leaves or a scene ends.

• Sonnet: A fourteen line poem using iambic pentameter and the following rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg.

Multiple Choice

Who is the most famous author of the sonnet?

• William Shakespeare

• J.K. Rowling

• Edgar Allan Poe

• Richard Connell

More Poetic Terminology

• End-stopped Line: Has some form of punctuation at the end of the line (,;.!?).

• Run-on Line: Has NO punctuation at the end of the line and meaning is continued to following lines. (Read it normally like you would a book)

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is an example of end-stopped line in poetry?

• He once was in a fog.

  Then he tripped on a dog.

• Where there is a cat

  There will not be a rat.

Poetic Terminology: Types of Rhymes

• Internal Rhyme: two or more words rhyming inside one line.

• End Line Rhyme: Words rhyming at the end of consecutive lines.

• Perfect vs. Slant Rhyme: ball & hall are a perfect rhyme (end sounds the same).  Ball & bell are slant rhymes (beginning and end sounds the same; middle sound is different).

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is an example of a perfect rhyme?

• Fall/Ball

• Bell/Ball

• Sew/Cow

• Shinned/Shined

Shakespeare's Plot Line: 5 Parts

• Act I: Exposition - Establishes setting, characters, conflict, and background

• Act II: Rising Action - A series of complications

• Act III: Crisis/Turning Point - A series of complications become worse/more intense

• Act IV: Falling Action - Results of the turning point; characters locked into deeper disaster

• Act V: Climax/Resolution/Denouement - Death of the main characters and then the loose parts of the plot are tied up

  
  

Multiple Choice

Which Act in Shakespeare's play contains the climax of the story?

• Act I

• Act II

• Act III

• Act IV

• Act V

Multiple Choice

If we know the full title of Romeo and Juliet is The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, what can we expect to happen by the end of the play?

• They will live happily ever after.

• They will die.

• They will stay away from each other.

• Everyone will die.