Romeo & Juliet Literary Terms

A play that uses dialogue and action to tell a story to the audience.

• Drama

• Sonnet

• Romance

• Tragedy

A play dealing with tragic events and an unhappy ending. It includes the downfall of the main character.

• Prologue

• History

• Prose

• Tragedy

An introduction to a work

• Soliloquy

• Foil

• Prologue

• Chorus

A 14-line poem

• Prose

• Sonnet

• Couplet

• Blank Verse

Written in paragraph form without rhyme or meter.

• Oxymoron

• Chorus

• Monologue

• Prose

A group of performers who comment on main, usually speaking and moving together.

• Chorus

• Aside

• Metaphor

• Relief Group

Where someone says something but means something else.

• Hyberbole

• Oxymoron

• Verbal Irony

• Foil

Where the audience has more knowledge of the situation than the character.

• Dramatic irony

• Chorus

• Personification

• Couplet

Where one character gives a long speech to other characters on stage.

• Pun

• Allusion

• Tragedy

• Monologue

Where one character is alone on stage and gives a long speech to the audience sharing his or her emotions.

• Soliloquy

• Prose

• Dynamic Act

• Aside