Note Taking activity

Seite 1

William Shakespeare

Born in April 1564

Stratford-on-Avon

Education in Latin, Greek, History, and Music

Wrote 38 plays and 4 lengthy poems

Vocab

verse vs, prose

meter

foot

monologue

tragedy

couplet

quatrain

soliloquy

Verse vs. Prose

verse: organized in lines and has a consistent number of syllables

prose: ordinary language, no rhyme, and organized in sentences

verse usage: used for high status characters , war affair and state

Prose usage: used for low status characters (villains, drunks, etc.)

Pay attention to changes in othello between verse and prose

Meter

pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables

responsible for creating rhythm

Foot&Meter

group of syllables forming a complete unit of metrical pattern

total number of metrical feet in a line of verse-meter

iambic pattern most common metrical pattern in shakespeare

Iambic Pentameter

unstressed syllable, stressed syllable

lines of 5 iambic feet ; 10 syllables

Blank verse vs. free verse

blank: unrhymed iambic pentameter

free: no regular meter

Sonnet

14 line poem

written in iambic pattern

three quatrains and a couplet

typical rhyme abab cd efef gg

four part organization

most pronounced break or turn comes with concluding couplet

Quatrain&Couplet

quatrain: four line verse stanza typically rhymes

couplet: pair of rhyming verse lines

Aside,monologue,&soliloquy

aside: characters remark/ characters on stage aren't supposed to hear

monologue: extended speech by single character

soliloquy: character speech when alone on stage