The document defines various dramatic terms and conventions including: - Drama recreates human life through dialogue and sequential events, having both written and performance forms. - Dramatic conventions substitute for reality to provide information the audience would not otherwise have. - Other conventions include concealment, soliloquy, asides, and dramatic irony. - Tragedy aims to produce catharsis in the audience and involves a protagonist with a tragic flaw that leads to their downfall. - Other terms defined include tragic flaw, hubris, protagonist, antagonist, and foil.

1. Drama Terms
1. DRAMA is a literary art form that re-creates human life and emotions. The
medium is dialogue and action within a frame of sequential events. Drama has
both written form (a script) and a living form (the stage presentation).
2. DRAMATIC CONVENTIONS are techniques that substitute for reality. These
techniques give the audience information they could not get from a
straightforward presentation of action. Conventions must be realistic enough that
the audience can experience "that willing suspension of disbelief" so essential to
a good drama.
3. CONCEALMENT is a dramatic convention that allows a character to be seen by
the audience, but remain hidden from fellow actors. This convention shows the
differing perceptions of the various characters.
4. A SOLILOQUY allows a character to speak his thoughts aloud, but not directly
to the audience. This involves introspection, revealing the character's personal
thoughts and feelings that would otherwise remain unvoiced.
5. An ASIDE is a convention that lets a character speak directly to the audience
without being overheard by the other characters. This convention permits
emphasis of character difference and audience involvement on a more personal
level.
6. DRAMATIC IRONY occurs when a character's words or acts carry a larger
meaning he does not perceive. The audience, however, is fully aware of the
character's situation and can realize the full importance of the action.
7. TRAGEDY is drama that gives the audience a feeling of emotional cleansing
(catharsis). The protagonist, a person of nobility, must make a moral decision
that in turn influences the outcome of the drama. The protagonist usually has a
serious fault - a tragic flaw - that leads to his downfall and death. The terror and
pity felt by the audience produces the catharsis, a cleansing or purifying emotion.
8. TRAGIC FLAW is the flaw, error, or defect in the tragic hero that leads to his
downfall.
9. DRAMATIC STRUCTURE of a conventional tragedy is essentially the
architecture of a drama. It consists of these components:
The introduction provides exposition. It creates tone, defines setting, and introduces
some characters. Introduction is the background information essential to the play.
The complication is the rising action - the building of tension caused by the conflict of
opposing interests. The complication peaks at the moment of crisis.

2. The climax is the peak of action and emotional intensity. From this high point, action
and intensity must necessarily decline, so climax is sometimes referred to as the turning
point.
The falling action (denouement) stresses action from the forces opposing the
protagonist. Suspense must be maintained while action moves swiftly and logically
toward the disaster, the tragedy.

3. The catastrophe is the moment marking the hero's tragic failure, often manifested
by his death. This moment of tragedy satisfies the audience in its logical
conformity to the order of events and in the nobility of the dying hero.
10.HAMARTIA: The "great error or frailty" through which the fortunes of the
tragic hero are reversed. Aristotle asserts that the protagonist of a tragedy
should be "a man who is not eminently good or just, yet whose misfortune
is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty." This
hamartia, often called the Tragic Flaw, may be caused by bad judgment,
bad character, inherited weakness, or any of several other possible
causes of error; it must, however, express itself through a definite action,
or failure to perform a definite action.
11.HUBRIS: Overwhelming pride that results in the misfortune of the
protagonist of a tragedy. It is the particular form of hamartia, or tragic
flaw, which results from excessive pride, ambition, and overconfidence.
HUBRIS leads the protagonist to break a moral law or ignore divine
warning with calamitous results.
12.PROTAGONIST: "Hero" - Main character
13.ANTAGONIST: "Villain" - Adversary (character or force)
14.CHORUS is used in drama to express opinions or emotions en mass, or to
give exposition. In the earliest Greek plays the chorus was a large group
of men dancing and chanting or singing in unison. Eventually the number
was reduced to twelve or fifteen, and one member, the chorus leader, was
given individual lines. Playwrights used the chorus to interpret and recall
past events, to comment on the actions of the characters in the play, or to
foretell the future. Although its role and importance varied from play to
play, the chorus often voiced the emotions experienced by the audience.
The actors participated dressed colorfully in fine garments and wearing
masks. The masks symbolized the character being played: a sad mask for
a tragic character, a comic mask for a buffoon.
15.FOIL: One character that serves as contrast to another.

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Responding to Literature: Stories, Poems,
Plays, and Essays, 4/e
Judith Stanford, Rivier College
Glossary of Drama Terms
Allegory
A symbolic narrative in which the surface details imply a
secondary meaning. Allegory often takes the form of a story
in which the characters represent moral qualities. The most
famous example in English is John Bunyan's Pilgrim's
Progress, in which the name of the central character, Pilgrim,
epitomizes the book's allegorical nature. Kay Boyle's story
"Astronomer's Wife" and Christina Rossetti's poem "Up-Hill"
both contain allegorical elements.
Alliteration
The repetition of consonant sounds, especially at the
beginning of words. Example: "Fetched fresh, as I suppose,
off some sweet wood." Hopkins, "In the Valley of the Elwy."
Antagonist
A character or force against which another character
struggles. Creon is Antigone's antagonist in Sophocles' play
Antigone; Teiresias is the antagonist of Oedipus in Sophocles'
Oedipus the King.
Aside
Words spoken by an actor directly to the audience, which are
not "heard" by the other characters on stage during a play.
In Shakespeare's Othello, Iago voices his inner thoughts a

5. number of times as "asides" for the play's audience.
Assonance
The repetition of similar vowel sounds in a sentence or a line
of poetry or prose, as in "I rose and told him of my woe."
Whitman's "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" contains
assonantal "I's" in the following lines: "How soon
unaccountable I became tired and sick, / Till rising and
gliding out I wander'd off by myself."
Catastrophe
The action at the end of a tragedy that initiates the
denouement or falling action of a play. One example is the
dueling scene in Act V of Hamlet in which Hamlet dies, along
with Laertes, King Claudius, and Queen Gertrude.
Catharsis
The purging of the feelings of pity and fear that, according to
Aristotle, occur in the audience of tragic drama. The audience
experiences catharsis at the end of the play, following the
catastrophe.
Character
An imaginary person that inhabits a literary work. Literary
characters may be major or minor, static (unchanging) or
dynamic (capable of change). In Shakespeare's Othello,
Desdemona is a major character, but one who is static, like
the minor character Bianca. Othello is a major character who
is dynamic, exhibiting an ability to change.
Characterization
The means by which writers present and reveal character.
Although techniques of characterization are complex, writers
typically reveal characters through their speech, dress,
manner, and actions. Readers come to understand the
character Miss Emily in Faulkner's story "A Rose for Emily"
through what she says, how she lives, and what she does.
Chorus
A group of characters in Greek tragedy (and in later forms of
drama), who comment on the action of a play without
participation in it. Their leader is the choragos. Sophocles'
Antigone and Oedipus the King both contain an explicit
chorus with a choragos. Tennessee Williams's Glass
Menagerie contains a character who functions like a chorus.
Climax
The turning point of the action in the plot of a play or story.
The climax represents the point of greatest tension in the
work. The climax of John Updike's "A & P," for example,
occurs when Sammy quits his job as a cashier.
Comedy
A type of drama in which the characters experience reversals
of fortune, usually for the better. In comedy, things work out

6. happily in the end. Comic drama may be either romantic--
characterized by a tone of tolerance and geniality--or satiric.
Satiric works offer a darker vision of human nature, one that
ridicules human folly. Shaw's Arms and the Man is a romantic
comedy; Chekhov's Marriage Proposal is a satiric comedy.
Comic relief
The use of a comic scene to interrupt a succession of
intensely tragic dramatic moments. The comedy of scenes
offering comic relief typically parallels the tragic action that
the scenes interrupt. Comic relief is lacking in Greek tragedy,
but occurs regularly in Shakespeare's tragedies. One example
is the opening scene of Act V of Hamlet, in which a
gravedigger banters with Hamlet.
Complication
An intensification of the conflict in a story or play.
Complication builds up, accumulates, and develops the
primary or central conflict in a literary work. Frank
O'Connor's story "Guests of the Nation" provides a striking
example, as does Ralph Ellison's "Battle Royal."
Conflict
A struggle between opposing forces in a story or play, usually
resolved by the end of the work. The conflict may occur
within a character as well as between characters. Lady
Gregory's one-act play The Rising of the Moon exemplifies
both types of conflict as the Policeman wrestles with his
conscience in an inner conflict and confronts an antagonist in
the person of the ballad singer.
Connotation
The associations called up by a word that goes beyond its
dictionary meaning. Poets, especially, tend to use words rich
in connotation. Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle into That
Good Night" includes intensely connotative language, as in
these lines: "Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright /
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, / Rage,
rage against the dying of the light."
Convention
A customary feature of a literary work, such as the use of a
chorus in Greek tragedy, the inclusion of an explicit moral in
a fable, or the use of a particular rhyme scheme in a
villanelle. Literary conventions are defining features of
particular literary genres, such as novel, short story, ballad,
sonnet, and play.
Denotation
The dictionary meaning of a word. Writers typically play off a
word's denotative meaning against its connotations, or
suggested and implied associational implications. In the
following lines from Peter Meinke's "Advice to My Son" the
references to flowers and fruit, bread and wine denote
specific things, but also suggest something beyond the literal,
dictionary meanings of the words:

7. To be specific, between the peony and rose
Plant squash and spinach, turnips and
tomatoes;
Beauty is nectar and nectar, in a desert,
saves--
...
and always serve bread with your wine.
But, son,
always serve wine.
Denouement
The resolution of the plot of a literary work. The denouement
of Hamlet takes place after the catastrophe, with the stage
littered with corpses. During the denouement Fortinbras
makes an entrance and a speech, and Horatio speaks his
sweet lines in praise of Hamlet.
Deus ex machina
A god who resolves the entanglements of a play by
supernatural intervention. The Latin phrase means, literally,
"a god from the machine." The phrase refers to the use of
artificial means to resolve the plot of a play.
Dialogue
The conversation of characters in a literary work. In fiction,
dialogue is typically enclosed within quotation marks. In
plays, characters' speech is preceded by their names.
Diction
The selection of words in a literary work. A work's diction
forms one of its centrally important literary elements, as
writers use words to convey action, reveal character, imply
attitudes, identify themes, and suggest values. We can speak
of the diction particular to a character, as in Iago's and
Desdemona's very different ways of speaking in Othello. We
can also refer to a poet's diction as represented over the
body of his or her work, as in Donne's or Hughes's diction.
Dramatic monologue
A type of poem in which a speaker addresses a silent listener.
As readers, we overhear the speaker in a dramatic
monologue. Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess" represents
the epitome of the genre.
Dramatis personae
Latin for the characters or persons in a play. Included among
the dramatis personae of Miller's Death of a Salesman are
Willy Loman, the salesman, his wife Linda, and his sons Biff
and Happy.
Exposition
The first stage of a fictional or dramatic plot, in which
necessary background information is provided. Ibsen's A
Doll's House, for instance, begins with a conversation
between the two central characters, a dialogue that fills the

15. place, and story line. The events of the plot should occur
within a twenty-four hour period, should occur within a give
geographic locale, and should tell a single story. Aristotle
argued that Sophocles' Oedipus the King was the perfect play
for embodying the unities.
Villanelle
A nineteen-line lyric poem that relies heavily on repetition.
The first and third lines alternate throughout the poem, which
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16. •
• Academic drama
• Acatalectic
• Accent
• Accentual verse
• Acrostic
• Allegory
• Alliteration
• Allusion
• Allution
• Anachronism
• Analects
• Analogue
• Analogy
• Anapest
• Anaphora
• Anastrophe
• Anecdote
• Angry Young Men
• Annal
• Annotation
• Antagonist
• Antepenult
• Anthology
• Anticlimax
• Anti-hero
• Anti-masque
• Anti-romance
• Antinovel
• Antistrophe
• Antithesis

17. • Antonym
• Aphorism
• Apocope
• Apocrypha
• Apollonian and Dionysian
• Apologue
• Apology
• Apothegm
• Aposiopesis
• Apostrophe
• Apron stage
• Arcadia
• Archaism
• Archetype
• Aristeia
• Argument
• Arsis
• Art for art's sake
• Asemic
• Aside
• Assonance
• Atmosphere
• Attitude
• Aube
• Aubade
• Audience
• Autobiography
• Autotelic
• Avant-garde

18. [edit] B
"The Leopard" from the 13th-century bestiary "Rochester Bestiary."
• Ballad
• Ballade
• Ballad stanza
• Bard
• Baroque
• Bathos
• Beast epic
• Beast poetry
• Beat Generation
• Beginning rhyme
• Belles-lettres
• Bestiary
• Beta reader
• Bibliography
• Bildungsroman
• Biography
• Black humor
• Blank verse
• Bloomsbury Group
• Body
• Bombast
• Boulevard drama
• Bourgeosis drama
• Bouts-rimés
• Bowdlerize
• Breviloquence

19. • Broadside
• Burlesque
• Burletta
• Burns stanza
• Buskin
• Byronic hero
[edit] C
• Caca
• Cadence
• Caesura
• Calligram
• Canon
• canso
• Canticum
• Canto
• Canzone
• Capa y espada
• Captivity narrative
• Caricature
• Carmen figuratum
• Carpe diem
• Catachresis
• Catalectic
• Catalexis
• Catastrophe
• Catharsis
• Caudate sonnet
• Cavalier drama
• Cavalier poetry
• Celtic Renaissance
• Celtic Twilight
• Cesura
• Chain of Being
• Chain verse
• Chanson de geste
• Chansonnier
• Chant royal
• Chantey
• Chanty
• Chapbook
• Character
• Characterization
• Charactonym
• Chaucerian stanza

20. • Chiasmus
• Chivalric romance
• Choriamb
• Choriambus
• Chorus
• Chronicle
• Chronical play
• Cinquain
• Classicism
• Classification (literature)
• Classification of rhymes (Peter Dale)
• Clerihew
• Cliché
• Climax
• Cloak-and-sword play
• Closed heroic couplet
• Closet drama
• Comédie larmoyante
• Comedy
• Comedy of errors
• Comedy of humors
• Comedy of intrigue
• Comedy of manners
• Comedic relief
• Commedia dell'arte
• Comic relief
• Common measure
• Commonplace book
• Common rhyme
• Comoedia erudate
• Comparative linguistics
• Compensation
• Complaint
• Conceit
• Concordance
• Concrete universal
• Confessional literature
• Confidant/confidante
• Conflict
• Connotation
• Consistency
• Consonance
• Contradiction
• Contrast
• Convention

21. • Copyright
• Counterplot
• Coup de théâtre
• Couplet
• Courtesy book
• Courtly love
• Cowleyan ode
• Cradle books
• Craft cycle
• Crisis
• Criticism
• Cross acrostic
• Crown of sonnets
• Curtain raiser
• Curtal sonnet
[edit] D
• Dactyl
• Dada
• Dale's classification of rhymes
• Dandyism
• Débat
• Decadence
• Decasyllabic verse
• Decorum
• Denotation
• Denouement
• Description
• Descriptive lingustics
• Detective story
• Deus ex machina
• Deuteragonist
• Dialect
• Dialogue
• Dibrach
• Diction
• Didactic
• Digest
• Digression
• Dime novel
• Diameter
• Dipody
• Dirge
• Dissociation of sensibility
• Dissonance

22. • Distich
• Distributed Stress
• Dithyramb
• Diverbium
• Divine afflatus
• Doggerel
• Dolce stil nuove
• Domestic tragedy
• Donnée
• Doppelgänger
• Double
• Double rhyme
• Drama
• Drama of sensibility
• Dramatic character
• Dramatic irony
• Dramatic lyric
• Dramatic monologue
• Dramatic proverb
• Dramatis personae
• Dramatugy
• Dream allegory
• Dream vision
• Droll
• Dumb show
• Duodecimo
• Duologue
• Duple meter/duple rhythm
• Dystopia
[edit] E
• Echo verse
• Eclogue
• Edition
• Elegiac couplet
• Elegiac meter
• Elegy
• Elision
• Emblem
• Emblem book
• Emendation
• Emotive language
• Encomiastic verse
• End rhyme
• End-stopped line

23. • English sonnet
• Enjambment
• Entr'acte
• Envoy/envoi
• Èpater le bourgeois
• Epic poetry
• Epic simile
• Epic Theater
• Epigram
• Epigraph
• Epilogue
• Epiphany
• Episode
• Epistle
• Epistolary novel
• Epistrophe
• Epitaph
• Epithalamion
• Epithet
• Epizeuxis
• Epode
• Eponymous author
• Equivalence
• Erziehungsroman
• Essay
• Ethos
• Eulogy
• Euphony
• Euphuism
• Evidence
• Exegesis
• Exemplum
• Existentialism
• Exordium
• Experimental novel
• Explication de texte
• Exposition
• Expressionism
• Extended metaphor
• Extension
• Extrametrical verse
• Extravaganza
• Eye rhyme

24. [edit] F
• Fable
• Fabliau
• Falling action
• Falling rhythm
• Fancy and imagination
• Fantasy
• Farce
• Feeling
• Feminine ending
• Feminine rhyme
• Fiction
• Figurative language
• Figure of speech
• Fin de siècle
• Flashback
• Flat character
• Fleshly school
• Foil
• Folio
• Folk drama
• Folklore
• Folk tale
• Foot
• Foreshadowing
• Form
• Four levels of meaning
• Four meanings of a poem
• Fourteener
• Frame story
• Free verse
• French forms
• Freytag's pyramid
• Fugitives and Agrarians
• Fustian
• Futurism

25. [edit] G
From the 13th-century Carmina Burana, a collection of love and vagabond songs in
Goliardic verse from Benediktbeurn Monastery.
• Gallows humor
• Gamebooks
• Gathering
• Genetic fallacy
• Genius and talent
• Genre
• Georgian poetry
• Georgic
• Gesta
• Gloss
• Gnomic verse
• Golden line
• Goliardic verse
• Gongorism
• Gonzo journalism
• Gothic novel
• Grand Guignol
• Graveyard poetry
• Graveyard school
• Greek tragedy
• Grub Street
• Grundyism
• Guignol

26. [edit] H
• Hagiography
• Hagiology
• Haikai
• Haikai no renga
• Haiku
• Half rhyme
• Hamartia
• Handwaving
• Headless line
• Head rhyme
• Hebraism-Hellenism
• "The Hedgehog and the Fox"
• Hemistich
• Hendecasyllable
• Hendecasyllabic verse
• Heptameter
• Heptastrich
• Heresy of Paraphrase
• Hero
• Heroic couplets
• Heroic drama
• Heroic quatrain
• Heroic stanza
• Hexameter
• Hexastich
• Hiatus
• High comedy
• Higher criticism
• Historical linguistics
• Historical novel
• Historic present
• History play
• Hokku
• Holograph
• Homeric epithet
• Homeric simile
• Homily
• Horatian ode
• Horatian satire
• Hornbook
• Hovering accent
• Hubris
• Hudibrastic verse
• Humor

27. • Humours
• Hybris
• Hymn
• Hymnal stanza
• Hyperbole
• Hypercatalectic
• Hypermetrical
• Hypocorism
• Hysteron-proteron
[edit] I
• Iambic pentameter
• Ideology
• Idiom
• Imagery
• Imagism
• Impressionism
• Indeterminacy
• Inference
• In medias res
• Internal rhyme
• Interpretation
• Intertextuality
• Irony
[edit] J
• Jacobean era
• Jeremiad
• Journal
• Judicial criticism
• Juncture
• Juggernaut
• Juvenalian satire
• Juxtaposition
[edit] K
• Kabuki
• Katharsis
• Kenning
• Kigo
• "King's English"
• Kireji
• Kitsch
• Künstlerroman

28. [edit] L
• Lai
• Lake Poets
• Lament
• Lampoon
• L'art pour l'art
• Laureate
• Lay
• Leaf
• Legend
• Legitimate theater
• Leonine rhyme
• Letters
• Level stress (even accent)
• Libretto
• Light ending
• Light poetry
• Light rhyme
• Light stress
• Light verse
• Limerick (poetry)
• Linguistics
• Linked rhyme
• Link sonnet
• Literary ballad
• Literary criticism
• Literary epic
• Literary realism
• Literary theory
• Literature
• Litotes
• Litterateur
• Liturgical drama
• Living newspaper
• Local color
• Logaoedic
• Logical fallacy
• Logical stress
• Logos
• Long measure
• Loose sentence
• Lost Generation
• Low comedy
• Lyric

29. [edit] M
• Macaronic verse
• Madrigal
• Magical realism
• Malapropism
• Märchen
• Marginalia
• Marinism
• Marivauge
• Marxist literary criticism
• Masculine ending
• Masculine rhyme
• Masked comedy
• Masque
• Maxim
• Meaning
• Medieval drama
• Meiosis
• Melic poetry
• Melodrama
• Memoir
• Menippean satire
• Mesostich
• Metaphor
• Metaphysical conceit
• Metaphysical poetry
• Meter
• Metonymy
• Metre
• Metrical accent
• Metrical foot
• Metrical structure
• Middle Comedy
• Miles gloriosus
• Miltonic sonnet
• Mime
• Mimesis
• Minnesinger
• Minstrel
• Miracle play
• Miscellanies
• Mise en scène
• Mixed metaphor
• Mock epic
• Mock heroic

30. • Mode
• Modernism
• Monodrama
• Monody
• Monograph
• Monologue
• Monometer
• Monopody
• Monostich
• Monograph
• Mood
• Mora
• Moral
• Morality play
• Motif
• Motivation
• Movement
• Mummery
• Muses
• Musical comedy
• Mystery play
• Mythology
[edit] N
• Narrative point of view
• Narrator
• Naturalism
• Neologism
• Non-fiction
• Non-fiction novel
• Novel
• Novelette
• Novella
• Novelle
• narrative poem
[edit] O
• Objective correlative
• Objective criticism
• Obligatory scene
• Octameter
• Octave
• Ode
• Oedipus complex
• Onomatopoeia

31. • Open couplet
• Orchestra_(literary term)
• Oxymoron
[edit] P
• Palinode
• Pantoum
• Pantun
• Parable
• Paraclausithyron
• Paradelle
• Paradox
• Pararhyme
• Partimen
• Pastourelle
• Pathetic fallacy
• Pathya Vat
• Parallelism
• Parody
• Pastoral
• Pathos
• Pentameter
• Periodic sentence
• Peripetia
• perspective
• Persona
• Personification
• Pièce bien faite
• Picaresque novel
• Plain Style
• Platonic
• Plot
• Poem
• Poem and song
• Poetic diction
• Poetic transrealism
• Poetry
• Point of view
• Polysyndeton
• Post-colonialism
• Postmodernism
• Pound's Ideogrammic Method
• Prologue
• Progymnasmata
• Prose

32. • Prosimetrum
• Prosody
• Protagonist
• Proverb
• Pruning poem
• Psychoanalytic literary criticism
• Psychoanalytic theory
• Pun
• Purple patch
• Pyrrhic
[edit] Q
• Quadrivium
• Quantitative verse
• Quantity
• Quarto
• Quatorzain
• Quatrain
• Quiproquo
[edit] R
• Reader-response criticism
• Realism
• Refrain
• Renga
• Renku
• Repetition
• Resolution
• Rhapsodes
• Rhetoric
• Rhyme
• Rhythm
• Roman a clef
• Romance novel
• Romanticism
• Russian formalism
[edit] S
• Satire
• Scanning
• Scansion
• Scene a faire
• Sea shanty
• Semiotics

33. • Semiotic literary criticism
• Setting
• Shanty
• Sestet
• Shakespearean sonnet
• Simile
• Slice of life
• Sobriquet
• Soliloquy
• Sonnet
o Sonneteer
• Speaker
• Sprung rhythm
• Stanza
• Static character
• Stereotype
• Stock epithet
• Stream of consciousness
• Structuralism
• Subplot
• Syllogism
• Symbol
• Synecdoche
• Synaesthesia
• Syntax
[edit] T
• Tableau
• Tail rhyme
• Tagelied
• Tale
• Tall Tale
• Telestich
• Tanka
• Tenor
• Tension
• Tercet
• Terza rima
• Tetrameter
• Tetrastich
• Textual criticism
• Texture
• Theater of Cruelty
• Theatre of the Absurd
• Theme

34. • Thesis
• Thesis play
• Threnody
• Tirade
• Tone
• Tract
• Tractarian Movement
• Tragedy
• Tragedy of blood
• Tragic flaw
• Tragic Hero
• Tragic irony
• Tragicomedy
• Tranche de vie
• Transcendentalism
• Transferred epithet
• Transition
• Translation
• Travesty
• Triad
• Tribe of Ben
• Tribrach
• Trimeter
• Triolet
• Triple rhyme
• Triple meter
• Triple rhythm
• Triplet
• Tristich
• Tritagonist
• Trivium
• Trobar clus
• Trochee
• Trope (literature)
• Troubadour
• Trouvère
• Truncated line
• Tumbling verse
• Type character
[edit] U
• Ubi sunt
• Underground culture
• Underground press
• Understatement

35. • Unities
• Unity
• Universality
• University Wits
• Unobtainium
• Utopia
• Utopian and dystopian fiction
• Unreliable narrator
[edit] V
• Variable syllable
• Variorum
• Varronian satire (Menippean satire)
• Vates
• Vaudeville
• Vehicle
• Verbal irony
• Verisimilitude
• Verism
• Vers de société
• Verse
• Verse paragraph
• Vers libre
• Verso
• Victorianism
• Viewpoint
• Vignette
• Villain
• Villanelle
• Virelay
• Virgule
• Voice (of the writer)
• Voice (in phonetics)
• Volta
• Vorticism
• Vulgate
[edit] W
• Wardour Street English
• Weak ending
• Weak foot
• Well-made play
• Wellerism
• Western fiction
• Wimmering

36. • Wit
• Word accent
• Wrenched accent
• Watermark
Glossary of Theatre/Drama Terms 1
Act: A major division of a play. Acts may be further divided into scenes. Either may be
used to
indicate a change of time or place.
Actor: One who performs a role or represents a character in a play. *The term is now
used for
both male and female performers.
Actress: A woman or a girl who represents a character
Audience: The group of persons assembled in a theatre to watch a play.
Audition: (n) The chance to read for a part in a play.
(v) Reading for a part in a play.
Beat: The length of a pause between words, speeches or actions. One beat is roughly
equivalent
to a count of one.
Blocking: The process of determining the movements of actors on stage
Cast: All the actors performing in a play
Casting: The process of auditions and interviews by which the director selects the actors
to play
the roles in the play

37. Costume: Clothing and accessories worn by the actors in a performance. Costumes can
represent
time and place; the income, the personality and even the state of mind of a
character.
Cue: A signal to begin
Dialogue: Speech between two or more characters
Director: The person charged with overall interpretation of a dramatic work, who
conducts the
rehearsals, blocks the action and helps the actors in developing their
characters.
Fourth Wall: The imaginary fourth wall that is removed from the box set so that the
audience
can see the action on stage. The term now applies to the “wall” separating
audience and performers on any type of stage or even film and television.
The term “breaking the fourth wall” refers to an actor speaking directly to
the
audience.
Freeze: To remain motionless onstage for a predetermined number of beats.
Monologue: Speech by a single actor. The actor generally makes the speech as if
speaking
to himself/herself and the speech is revealing of his/her thoughts and
feelings.
Play: Any work written to be acted on stage.
Playwright: One who writes plays.
Set: The surroundings on stage, visible to the audience, in which the action of the play
takes
place.
Sight Lines: The imaginary lines of sight from the audience to the stage. These lines of
sight – from the extreme sides of the auditorium and from the rear of the
balcony –
determine the limit of the area on stage in which action can take place and
be
visible to the entire audience.
Stage: The performance space; the area where the action of a play takes place.

38. Stage Directions: Indications in a script for entrances and exits and for movement in
relation to
the set within particular scenes.
Stage a play: To “stage a play” means to rehearse and then perform it.
Suspension of Disbelief: The willingness of an audience to accept what is seen on stage.
Tableau (plural: Tableaux): French for “living picture”, a tableau is a grouping of
silent,
motionless actors representing an incident and presenting
an
artistic spectacle; i.e. a frozen picture.
A
allegory:
An extended narrative that carries a second meaning along with the surface meaning. The
second meaning is similar in structure to the surface story, shedding light on a story the
author expects his reader to recognize. Thus, George Orwell’s Animal Farm sheds light
on the development of communism in Russia and does it very well by comparing the
revolution to the rebellion of pigs on a farm. The story of how the pigs take over and the
corruption that ensues parallels the events in twentieth century Russia. (Beckson 8)
alliteration:
The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words.
To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock,
In a pestilential prison, with a life-long lock,
Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock,

39. From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big, black block!
W. S. Gilbert, The Mikado
Anglo-Saxon prosody was based on alliteration rather than rhyme. (Beckson 9)
allusion:
When a writer or speaker refers to something from history or literature and expects her
audience to understand to what she is referring, she is alluding or making an allusion.
I felt like Custer at Little Big Horn when all of the freshmen were attacking me with
questions about their lockers and combinations. (The speaker is alluding to the massacre
of General George Armstrong Custer Little Big Horn.)
How long has it been raining? It seems as if it has been forty days and forty nights. (The
speaker likens the weather to Noah's flood which lasted forty days and forty nights.)
Do not confuse allusion with the word illusion.
anachronism:
Something that is misplaced in a story because it is out of time. In Julius Caesar, a clock
strikes though there were no clocks in Caesar’s day. In the movie Ben-Hur, Charlton
Heston anachronistically wears a wristwatch during the chariot race.
anagram:
A word or name created by mixing up the letters of another word. For example, Samuel
Butler’s Erewhon is an anagram for the word nowhere. (Beckson 12)
antagonist:
The force or character that opposes the protagonist. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a
Mockingbird, Bob Ewell serves as antagonist to the Finch family, but actually the greater
antagonist is the bigotry and prejudice.
anthology:
A compilation of stories, poems or plays found in one book. Most English classes use an
anthology as the main text.
anti-hero:
This is a kind of hero who seems to express qualities that are opposite that of the
traditional hero such as courage, honor or honesty. The anti-hero succeeds, but does it on
his or her own terms. The anti-hero may reject the qualities that society deems noble, but
battles forces in his or her own way. In the film Cool Hand Luke, the protagonist is a
career criminal yet his battle against the established order makes him a hero.
archetype:

40. From the Greek arché, meaning “original” or “primitive,” plus typos , “form.” The term,
employed by the psychoanalyst C. G. Jung, has been used in criticism to characterize a
pattern of plot or character which evokes what Jung calls a “racial memory.” Thus, the
voyage in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is an archetype of the spiritual journey which
all people experience, the Ancient Mariner himself an archetype of the man who offends
God. Such “primordial images,” as Jung call them, lie in the “collective unconscious,”
which is the repository of the experience of the race.
aside
An aside is words spoken to the audience or perhaps to another character while other
characters are on stage. The other characters pretend to not hear and we the audience get
to listen in on the thoughts. In William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Trebonius is told to
stay close to Caesar's side and he replies to Caesar: "Caesar, I will (and in an aside to the
audience) and so near will I be,/That your best friends shall wish I had been further." (II.
iv. 124-125) The audience hears everything, but everyone pretends that Caesar does not
hear Trebonius' threatening words. It is a device used so that the audience gets to hear the
candid, inner thoughts of the characters.
atmosphere:
The mood the reader gets from the setting, the characterization and the tone of the
narrator.
autobiography:
The life story of a person written by the person. It is a story.
avant-garde:
French: “vanguard.” In literature, a term designating new writing that contains
innovations in form or technique.
B
ballad:
A narrative poem that is often meant to be sung.
bard:
A word originally use to refer to an ancient Celtic order of minstrel-poets who composed
and sang verses celebrating the achievements of chiefs and warriors; now a synonym for
poet. (Beckson 22)
black humor

41. This term denotes a kind of humor dealing with extremely serious and maybe horrible
subjects, usually death and mayhem. The movie M*A*S*H, and sometimes the television
show was known for its black humor. Also famous for it is the Stanley Kubrick film Dr.
Strangelove (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb) a black comedy
about nuclear destruction. Synonyms for "black humor" are sometimes "dark humor" or
"gallows humor." In the sophomoreyear curriculum are a story "Where Have You Gone,
Billy Boy" and a novel The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien that contain black
humor.
blank verse
Blank verse is unrhymed iambic pentameter. The "blank" is the unrhymed part. It consists
of five (penta) iambs. An iamb is a foot (a section of a line) that has two syllables, the
first unaccented and the second accented. (Example: remark or repeat are both iambic
because they have two syllables and the second syllable is stronger than the first.) The
full line of the poem would have five feet.
Poor Thomas threw his money all away.-(Listen for the stresses or stronger syllables.)
Poor THOMas THREW his MONey ALL aWAY.-(The capitalized syllables are the
stressed ones. Every pair of unaccented and accented syllable form an iambic foot. There
are five feet in the line so it will be pentameter. This is iambic pentameter.
C
carpe diem
Latin for "seize the day." This is a term that is popular in the Western world and springs
from the realization that life is short and precarious and that tomorrow is promised no
one. Balancing this philosophy is the other belief that one must plan and save (energy,
money, resources) for the future. The tension between these two philosphies is an
important part of everyone's life.
character
Click on the word "character" for information about this subject.
cliché
An old, tired and worn out idea or expression. On Star Trek, every time there came a
problem that was too difficult to handle the writers would have someone travel back in
time to solve it. This plot line became cliche. Every hospital show has to have a young
idealistic intern and an old, cranky administrator that won't give him free reign. These
streotypes have become cliche. The motto on top of this page by Socrates is in danger of
becoming a cliche, but that just goes to show you (last fove words are a cliche) that just
because something is a cliche it doesn't mean it is not true.
climax

42. The climax of a story is the point where the reader knows who wins the conflict. It has
nothing to do with "the most exciting part of a story" or anything else like it. You know
yourself that many stories you read in school have no exciting parts. This is strictly a
technical term the denotes the part of the story where, now that it has been read or seen,
the reader or audience can see when either the protagonist or the antagonist won. Any
story that has conflict has a climax unless it is designed like Frank Stockton's "The Lady
or the Tiger" where the whole point of the story was that there is no climax. Click on the
word "climax" for more information.
comic relief
conceit
conflict
connotation
consonance
couplet
D
denotation
denouement
deus ex machina
diction
dramatic monologue
dynamic character:
This is a character that fundamentally changes his or her personality or view of life by the
end of the story. By the end of the story, Jem Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper
Lee has fundamentally changed his view of the town and the town’s people. He has
changed from seeing fairy tale monsters to seeing the real monsters in his town of
Maycomb. He has gained a greater understanding of human courage and virtue.
E
elegy
epic

43. epigram
euphemism
Existentialism
F
fable
farce
flashback
flat character:
This character has only one or two sides of a personality. This character can be summed
up in one or two sentences. This character, or caricature, lacks surprises or complexity.
This is a term used by E. M. Forster in his Aspects of the Novel (1927).
foil:
A foil is a character whose personality and attitude is opposite the personality and attitude
of another character. Because these characters contrast, each makes the personality of the
other stand out. In Sophocles' Antigone, Ismene is a foil for Antigone. Where Antigone is
aware of the world, Ismene denies knowledge and hides from it. Where Antigone stands
up to authority, Ismene withers before it. Antigone is active and Ismene is passive.
Ismene's presence in the play highlights the qualities Antigone will display in her conflict
with Creon making her an excellent foil.
G
genre
H
haiku
hyperbole
I
iamb
imagery

44. innocence to experience motif
invocation
irony
Essentially the term irony is the expectation of one event and another, completely
different event happens and still makes sense. There has to be sense to it.
There are three types of irony:
verbal irony: Someone uses verbal irony when she says one thing, means the opposite,
and everyone understands she means the opposite. Isn't language remarkable?
Ex.: After the overworked mother picked up the toys, scrubbed the bathroom floor and
tile, cleaned the cat box and got ready to taxi the kids to the mall, she casually remarked,
"I simply can't take all this glamour."
Ex.: After working non-stop, eighteen hours a day for a solid year, the publisher and his
staff saw their magazine finally turn a profit. At a celebratory party, the publisher told his
staff how they really ought to be working harder and they laughed.
situational irony: The opposite of what is expected to happen, happens. But it still
makes sense.
Ex.: The firehouse burned down.
Ex.: The police station was robbed.
Ex.: The teacher failed his test.
dramatic irony: The essential part about dramatic irony is that someone, usually an
audience, knows something that someone else doesn't know.
Ex.: The day after the assassination, someone saw Mary Todd Lincoln and asked her how
she enjoyed the play the night before. (We know and Mary knows that Abraham Lincoln
was shot at the theater the night before, but the person did not.)
J
jargon
K
kenning
L
lampoon
limerick
local color
M

45. melodrama
metaphor:
The metaphor is a figure of speech in which one object is compared with another very
different kind of object. With the metaphor the qualities that the two objects share are so
important and similar that they seem to be the same thing.
The ship plowed through the waves. (The ship and the plow go through things so
similarly that one is the other in this sentence.
You can count on Pete. The guy is a rock. (The solidness of the two objects, Pete and the
rock, make it seem as if they are one type of thing.
Notice that the metaphor is different from the simile which states that one object is like
another.
metonymy:
Metonymy literally means "change of name" and it is essentially just that. When we name
a thing by calling it by something that is closely related to it, we use metonymy.
Johann was writing another of his stories back in the corner of the room, when his brother
poked his head in and called, "Hey, Shakespeare, come here. I need you." (Johann, who is
known to be a writer, is called Shakespeare, a famous writer, by his brother.)
Mary McGrory is a famous member of the press. (The word press is metonymy because
the "press" is a machine closely related to newspapers and reporting.)
The marshall was backed up by five guns who signed on as deputies. (The men who were
the deputies were being closely related to their guns.)
mock epic
mood
motif:
A motif is an idea, a theme that is repeated or carried through an individual work as when
John Steinbeck's narrator constantly compares Lenny to an animal such as horse or bear
throughout the novel Of Mice and Men. There are musical motifs as well. In Jaws, the
approach of the shark is always signaled by a strumming of bass strings slowly as the
music builds in pitch and speed.
A motif is also an idea which is so powerful and recognizable that it will be used by
many authors and artists in many different works in many different ages. Many writers
will liken the ages of a person to the seasons of the year. In the spring of one's life is
youth and the winter is old age when older persons are said to have snow on the roof.
Other motifs used in many works includes the savior motif and the innocence to
experience motif .
myth

46. N
naturalism
nom de plume
novel
novella
O
ode
onomatopoeia
oxymoron
The oxymoron is a figure of speech which seems to be self contradictory.
She had a terrible beauty.
There was a deafening silence.
The word sophomore is oxymoronic because it means "wise (soph) fool (more)."
P
palindrome
A palindrome is a word that can be read forwards and backwards the same. Small
palindromes are dad, boob, race car and such. Or you could have more complicated
palindromes like the following. (Please note that none of these are original, though I do
not know who first created them.):
Words possibly said by Napoleon following his exile:
Able was I ere I saw Elba.
These words might have been the first words said from one human being to another:
Madam, I'm Adam.
A cafe could emphasize food for the sweet tooth with this sign:
Desserts Stressed
Exclaim you preference for Italian food with:
Go hang a salami! I'm a lasagna hog.
parable
paradox:

47. A paradox is a statement or situation that contradicts itself. The best forms of paradox are
those which make sense even though they are self contradictory.
Ex.: For millions of Christians the world over, eternal life awaits them after they die.
Ex.: If God is omnipotent, can God make a stone that God cannot lift?
Ex.: Everything I write is a lie.
Ex.: "Nature's first green is gold." (Robert Frost)
parallelism
parody
persona
The persona is a character the author creates to represent herself. The persona could
simply be a narrator or it could be a character that pretends to be the author. In any case,
the persona is always a character that is created by the author and is never to be assumed
to be the author. In many poems the speaker will voice words or opinions as if the
speaker is the poet. This is false. The speaker is also always said to be a creation of the
poet. Don't be fooled by this.
personification:
Personification is a kind of metaphor that specifically states that a non-living object has
living or life-like qualities.
Nature smiles down on us.
The angry winds blew.
The unrelenting weather dealt us another blow.
Go to Top
plot:
Structure of the Plot:
I. Introduction: Several things may be introduced at the beginning of the story.
A.Setting: Where and when the story takes place
B.Protagonist: The main character of the story; who the story is about;
this character sets the action in motion.
C.Mood: The emotional feeling the reader gets from the setting and
character description; the atmosphere.
D.Tone: The attitude of the speaker or narrator.
II. Rising Action: This essentially the point where the protagonist meets the
antagonist.
A.Conflict: One force meets an opposing force.
1. Person vs. Person (External Conflict)
2. Person vs. Nature (External Conflict)
3. Person vs. Himself or Herself (Internal Conflict)
4. Person vs. Society (External Conflict)

48. 5. Person vs. Fate, Destiny, God (External Conflict)
B. Antagonist: The character or force which opposes the protagonist.
III. Climax: The point at which the reader can see who will inevitable win the
conflict. This can often not be seen until the story is over and the reader looks
back on the plot. The climax is not the most exciting part of the story! Some
stories do not have exciting parts.
IV. Denouement: This is French for “unknotting” and is essentially the wrapping
up of all the loose details of the plot in order to satisfy the reader or audience.
These are the four classic parts of a plot. Depending upon the artist, a story may not have
all the parts. Many stories are without a denouement. A story like “The Lady or the
Tiger” by Frank Stockton does not have a climax.
poetry
point of view:
The point of view of the story is the stand point from which the story is told. There are
several points of view:
first person: With the first person point of view, a character in the story tells the story.
There will be uses of the pronoun "I" or "me" or "my." The first person point of view is
limited because the character may not know all the facts, may be lying, or may be fooling
himself.
third person omniscient: The third person omniscient narrator knows all about all the
characters and is only limited by what she may want to tell you.
third person limited omniscient: This oxymoronic phrase describes a narrator who knows
everything but only follows the point of view of one particular character. This narrator
will follow the actions and thoughts of this one character, but not any of the others. Thus
you are limited to what that one character knows.
second person: There actually is a "second person narrator," although in reality it is a
grammatically challenged third person narrator. The style which gained some popularity
in the 90s wears thin in anything other than a short story. The narrator sounds something
like: "You wake up in the morning feeling like warm, dried spit, but you crawl out of bed
anyway. Head hanging and bent, you move slowly to the bathroom so you can start your
day." The narrator is not you. It is not even about you. It is about a character that is
similar to you. The character is similar enough to be you and by using this familiar tone,
the writer hopes to create an identification with the character on your part. It is a trick.
prologue:
The prologue is essentially an introductory portion of the play which lets the audience
know the important information it needs in order to see the action begin. In Sophocles'
Antigone, the prologue sets up the character of Antigone and what she believes she must
do for the honor of her family. Her characteristics are highlighted by the use of the foil
Ismene. The opposite of the prologue is the epilogue.
prose:

49. Normal, everyday language and writing. Your geography text book is written in prose.
Your essays are also in prose. When you try to create a musical quality to your writing
you are venturing into prosody or the rules of poetry.
prosody:
The theory of versification or the theory of poetry.
protagonist :
The main character of the story. The action of the plot centers about this person. In
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird a strong case for Atticus Finch as the protagonist can
be made, but the story’s focus is really Jem and what he learns about life, courage and
human virtue. The story begins by explaining that this is the story of how Jem broke his
arm. It is he who sets the action in motion and about whom the action centers. Scout is
our narrator and observer who serves to give us the story from the children’s perspective.
pun
Q
R
refrain
rhetoric
rhetorical question
rhyme
rhyme scheme
rising action
round character :
A life-like, three dimensional character. This character is believable enough to have
actually lived. This is a term used by E. M. Forster in his Aspects of the Novel (1927).
S
saga
sarcasm

50. satire
savior motif
setting
short story:
simile:
The simile is a figure of speech which states that one object is similar to or like another
object.
The ship went through the ocean like a plow.
Pete will stick by us. He's like a rock.
Note that a simile will state that one object is like another where the metaphor , a more
direct comparison and thus a stronger one, states that one object is the other.
Single Effect:
slapstick
soliloquy:
A soliloquy is a long speech given by an actor alone on the stage which expresses the
private inner thoughts of the character. Hamlet gives his famous soliloquy that begins, "
To be or not to be, that is the question," at point in the play where he is contemplating
whether he should go on with his tasks in life and suffer the "slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune," or should he die. The audience gets to hear all of the contemplations
of the characters thoughts as he considers his life.
stanza
static character :
Though he is one of the greatest characters taught in high school literature, Atticus Finch
of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a static character. He is essentially the same
strong, courageous person at the beginning of the novel as he is at the end. It is the
children's view of him that changes, not Atticus.
symbol:
A symbol is an object that represents a very, very, very, very, very, very complex idea.
I could ask fifty different people what the American flag represented without allowing for
duplicate answers and get fifty different ideas that the flag represents. A symbol does not
represent an object it represents an idea. The object can represent itself. The idea

51. sometimes needs to be framed into a context that can be more easily understood or
remembered.
T
theme
The essential idea, group of ideas, or philosophy that the writer wants the reader to
understand from the story she is telling. A simple theme from the folk tale about Little
Red Riding Hood might be "Don't talk to strangers." More complex stories discuss more
complex ideas. For instance, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, delves deeply
into all the aspects of sin and evil in the human heart. Each chapter is an exploration of
different facets of sin and its effect on the personalities of the people involved. Yet, this
exploration of sin is only a part of the many themes found in this excellent novel.
For more on finding a theme, click here .
For more about theme, click here .
tone
U
understatement
V
verisimilitude:
Verisimilitude is achieved by a writer or storyteller when he presents striking details
which lend an air of authenticity to a tale. For example, a teenager (not you of course)
goes somewhere without her parents permission and tells her parents that she was really
at the library. If the teenager adds creative details about what happened while she was
there (even though she is making the details up), she is attempting to add verisimilitude to
her story. Writers of fiction also do this.
vignette:
A vignette is a short, well written sketch or descriptive scene. It does not have a plot
which would make it a story, but it does reveal something about the the elements in it. It
may reveal character, or mood or tone. It may have a theme or idea of its own that it
wants to convey. It is the description of the scene or character that is important.
W
Theater

52. aside:
An aside is words spoken to the audience or perhaps to another character while other
characters are on stage. The other characters pretend to not hear and we the audience get
to listen in on the thoughts. In William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Trebonius is told to
stay close to Caesar's side and he replies to Caesar: "Caesar, I will (and in an aside to the
audience) and so near will I be,/That your best friends shall wish I had been further." (II.
iv. 124-125) Caesar on stage “does not hear” the words said to the audience and the
audience agrees to suspend its disbelief long enough to receive the information. It is a
break of the magic fourth wall between the actors and the audience. The audience hears
everything, but everyone pretends that Caesar does not hear Trebonius' threatening
words. It is a device used so that the audience gets to hear the candid, inner thoughts of
the characters.
avant-garde:
French: “vanguard.” In literature, a term designating new writing that contains
innovations in form or technique.
bard:
A word originally use to refer to an ancient Celtic order of minstrel-poets who composed
and sang verses celebrating the achievements of chiefs and warriors; now a synonym for
poet. (Beckson 22)
foil:
A foil is a character whose personality and attitude is opposite the personality and attitude
of another character. Because these characters contrast, each makes the personality of the
other stand out. In Sophocles' Antigone , Ismene is a foil for Antigone. Where Antigone
is aware of the world, Ismene denies knowledge and hides from it. Where Antigone
stands up to authority, Ismene withers before it. Antigone is active and Ismene is passive.
Ismene's presence in the play highlights the qualities Antigone will display in her conflict
with Creon making her an excellent foil.
prologue:
The prologue is essentially an introductory portion of the play which lets the audience
know the important information it needs in order to see the action begin. In Sophocles'
Antigone, the prologue sets up the character of Antigone and what she believes she must
do for the honor of her family. Her characteristics are highlighted by the use of the foil
Ismene. The opposite of the prologue is the epilogue.
soliloquy:

53. A soliloquy is a long speech given by an actor alone on the stage which expresses the
private inner thoughts of the character. Hamlet gives his famous soliloquy that begins, "
To be or not to be, that is the question," at point in the play where he is contemplating
whether he should go on with his tasks in life and suffer the "slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune," or should he die. The audience gets to hear all of the contemplations
of the characters thoughts as he considers his life.