English Macbeth/Literary Terms

a reference to a person, event, etc. that is familiar to many outside of the reality of the text.

a break in a line of poetry indicated through punctuation.

two lines of rhyming poetry; Shakespeare often ended scenes w/ couplets

the "back story;" background information

a unit of meter in poetry

a pattern of beats in poetry

speech given by one character. differs from a soliloquy in that the character is not alone.

an 8-line stanza/group of lines, usually in a Petrarchan/Italian sonnet

a four line stanza/group of lines, usually in a Shakespearean sonnet

a six-line stanza, usually paired with an octave to form a Petrarchan sonnet

a device used by shakespeare to allow a character's inner thoughts to emerge. Unlike asides, which are spoken directly to the audience a la Ferris Bueller and usually reveal devious intent, what the characters say in soliloquies can be trusted as truth for that character. even dubious characters often achieve some sort of grace in soliloquies.

a 14 line poem with a prescribed rhyme scheme in iambic pentameter (10 syllables per line). there are two main types of sonnets: shakespearean and petrarchan.

a three-line stanza.

the point in a sonnet where the poet begins to "sum up" hi/her point/theme (at the beginning of the final couplet or at the beginning of the sestet in traditional sonnets).

Shakespeare is BORN

April 1564

He dies ;(

April 1616

was in london

theaters closed because of plague

theaters re-open

King's men build the globe theater
-James I publishes Daemonologie

James ascends the throne

shakespeare's sonnets published

gunpowder plot

gunpowder plot trial
date of the first performance of macbeth

subject to 2 or more interpretations, used to mislead or confuse