Some Some DefinitionsDefinitions

ENG 406

February 8, 2006

Closet DramaCloset Drama1. a play

2. usually in verse

3. intended for (or more effective in) reading rather than acting

Ottava RimaOttava Rima1. eight lines

2. iambic pentameter

3. rhyming abababcc

4. couplet provides pithy summary, reversal, or surprise

SonnetSonnet1. 14 lines

2. iambic pentameter

3. various rhyme schemes

4. a break, usually at the end of line 8, showing change

ApostropheApostrophe• The direct address of one who is

absent, often who could not be present logically

ElegyElegy1. Formal in tone and structure (but after

the Greeks, no specific meter required)2. Usually concerns the death of a specific

person (18th century and after)3. Elizabethans used the form for love

complaints also4. Embodies the sense of mourning

BalladBallad1. Made of 4 lines, alternating

tetrameter and trimester

2. Rhyming abcb or less often abab

3. Usually iambic

Horatian OdeHoratian Ode• One stanza type that may be varied

within its pattern

• Quatrian: four lines that rhyme abab

• Sestet: six lines with a variation on cdecde

Dramatic Dramatic MonologueMonologue

• Single speaker previously known to the reader

• Implied specific listener

• Provides insight into speaker’s character

AnapesticAnapestic•A triplet rhythm characterized by two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed

Pathetic Pathetic FallacyFallacy

•The attribution of human feelings onto an inanimate object

SpondeeSpondee• a metrical foot using two

stressed syllables

Sprung Sprung RhythmRhythm

• Rhythm based on the number of stressed syllables without regard for the number of unstressed syllables

•Stressed syllables lead each metrical foot

• coined by Gerard Manley Hopkins to emulate speech