Humanities English Name:______

Dr. Struzziero

Notes for Literary Analysis of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

By William Shakespeare

Notes on Scanning

meter: rhythmic pattern of poetry.

scansion: process that allows the reader to identify the meter of a poem by indicating the stressed and unstressed syllables in the verses. To scan please follow these steps:

1) Count the syllables with your fingers or clap the syllables with your hands

2) Note where your voice rises and falls. Your voice rises when it gets higher in pitch or volume, and it falls when your voice gets lower in pitch or volume.

3) Note rises with /.

4) Note falls with U.

5) Search for patterns.

6) Identify the pattern.

7) Count the pattern happen.

8) Give the meter a name.

These additional definitions will help you:

feet- a basic metrical unit, usually of 2 or 3 beats

iamb- an example of a foot; an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (U/).

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Blank Verse- poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. Blank means that the poetry is unrhymed. Iambic pentameter means that each line contains five iambs, or metrical feet that consist of an unstressed syllable (u) followed by a stressed syllable (/). When scanned, or marked, the line of poetry would look like this:

(u/) (u/) (u/) (u/) (u/)

Blank verse is the most important poetic form in English epic and dramatic poetry. For example, it is form that Fitzgerald uses in his translation of The Odyssey, and it is the form that Shakespeare uses in Romeo and Juliet

rhyming couplet- two lines of rhyming poetry.

Shakespearean Sonnet Form: 14 line poem broken into 3 quatrains (groups of four lines) and one rhyming couplet. The couplet comes at the end of the poem and contains the main idea. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCDEFEFGG.

Chorus- group that would introduce the exposition of the play to the audience or introduce a new act

pun- play on words

oxymoron- two antonyms put together to create a new compound word or phrase

paradox- statement that seems impossible or untrue but, once put into the context, it is true.

monologue- long speech by a single character

foreshadow- clues to future events; foreshadowing may add anticipation or suspense for the reader.

soliloquy- when a character speaks his/her thoughts alone on stage

aside- when a character speaks his/her thoughts on stage while other characters are present, but they cannot hear

comic relief- when a dramatic or tense scene is followed immediately by a comical one; this offers relief for the audience

dramatic irony-occurs when the audience or the reader knows something important that a character in a play or story does not know.