Michelle Dupray

English 9: William Shakespeare

“Romeo and Juliet”
Literary Devices

1. Plot – main events of a novel, play, etc. – shown by the writer in

interrelated sequences
2. Setting – place or time a play, novel, etc. is set
3. Point of view – the position the story is told in
4. Characterization – makes plots through actions of the character
or words about them
5. Theme – the concept
6. Alliteration – same letter/sound at the beginning of words that
are close together in a sentence
7. Allusion – made to bring something to mind without mentioning it
clearly
8. Analogy – comparison between two different things
9. Antagonist – the opposing person (adversary)
10.Aside – not in the way
11.Blank Verse – a verse that does not rhyme
12.Climax – the greatest point of the story
13.Comic Relief – something humorous that relieves some of the
seriousness/tension of the story
14. Conflict - disagreement
15.Couplet – two lines of a single verse
16.Diction – choice/use of words used
17.Dramatic Irony – the reader knows something the characters do
not know
18.Dramatic Structure – action, place, and time
19.Epithet – adjective or phrase used to show the qualities of a
person/thing
20.Figurative Language – simile or metaphor
21.Foreshadowing – future/outcome of the story is proposed by the
author before it actually happens
22.Foil – character who is exactly opposite of another character
23.Imagery – words used to describe
24.Irony – something happens that is unpredicted
25.Meter – way symbols are put into patterns (rhythmical)
26.Metaphor – when an item takes places of another (in a sentence)
27.Monologue – one character talking to himself/the reader
28.Oxymoron – figure of speech – contradicts itself
29.Personification – used to show a great quality in something
(generally a figure is used)
30.Protagonist - leading/major character
31.Pun – has many different meanings (all apply)
32.Rhyme Scheme – the rhyming at the end of poem lines or verses
33.Simile – comparison of one thing to something else (generally
different); adds more description
34.Situational Irony – situation happens that is unexpected
35.Soliloquy – speaking thoughts aloud while alone or not minding
of other people
36.Sonnet – poem with fourteen lines; any formal rhyme scheme
37.Symbol – something that stands for another thing
38.Tragedy – something disastrous happens to a main character
39.Verbal Irony – something is said that is unexpected