This document defines and provides examples of several literary terms found in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, including couplet, oxymoron, alliteration, imagery, and irony. A couplet is a pair of rhyming lines, an oxymoron uses contradictory words, alliteration repeats consonant sounds, imagery uses descriptive language, and dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows something characters do not. Examples for each term are given using direct quotes from Romeo and Juliet.

1. Literary TermsRomeo and Juliet Edition

2. CoupletA pair of rhyming verse lines. Example: “The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.”(Romeo and Juliet 1 (Prologue))Final Rhyming Couplet – End of scenes or soliloquy.

3. OxymoronTwo contradictory words brought together to leave a lasting impression.Example: “Parting is such sweet sorrow.” (Romeo and Juliet 2.1)

4. Alliteration Repetition of consonants.Example: “The day to cheer and night's dank dew to dry” (Romeo and Juliet 2.3)

5. Imagerydescriptive language that evokes sensory experience.Example: “The grey-eyed morn smiles on the frowning night,Chequeringthe eastern clouds with streaks of light, And flecked darkness like a drunkard reels From forth day's path and Titan's fiery wheels”(Romeo and Juliet 2.3)

6. IronyDramaticAudience is aware of certain facts that the characters are ignorant of.Example: Juliet father agrees to allow Paris to marry Juliet, but the audience already knows Juliet is married to Romeo.VerbalSaying one thing but meaning another thing.Example:Juliet says to her mother:“I will not marry yet; and, when I do, I swear,It shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate,Rather than Paris.”(Romeo and Juliet 3.5)