Greek and Roman Lit. / Drama Terms
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33 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 allegory | a literary work with two or more levels of meaning - a literal level and one or more symbolic levels |
| alllusion | a reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art |
| comedy | a literary work, especially a play, which is light, often humerous or satirical, and ends happily |
| epic conventions | traditional characteristics of epic poems, including the the opening statement of the theme; includes invocation, epic similes, stock epithets, in medias res |
| epic simile | elaborate, extended comparisons using "like" or "as" |
| extended metaphor | a subject is spoken or written of as though it were something else; several connected comparisons are made |
| flashback | a scene within a story that interrupts the sequence of events to relate events that occurred in the past |
| homeric simile | a simile developed over several lines of verse, esp. one used in an epic poem. |
| in medias res | starting a story "in the middle of things" |
| invocation | appeal for supernatural help in telling the story |
| irony (dramatic) | the audience is aware of something that the character or speaker is not |
| metrical structure | the use of a conventional predictable structure that gives a work rhapsody and cadence |
| orchestra | where the actors perform |
| paradox | a statement that seems to be contradictory but actually presents a truth |
| personification | a type of figurative language in which a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics |
| rhapsodes | "Singer of tales" Historians and entertainers as well as the myth-makers of their time. |
| stock epithet | a descriptive adjective or phrase that is repeatedly used with, or in place of, a name. |
| tragedy | a type of serious drama that usually ends in disaster for the main character |
| tragic flaw | the character flaw or error of a tragic hero that leads to his downfall |
| tragic hero | A literary character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy. |
| amphitheatre | an open-air venue for spectator sports, concerts, rallies, or theatrical performances. dramas in the time period always took place here. |
| anagnoreisis | a moment in a play or other work when a character makes a critical discovery |
| deus ex machina | "God from the machine"; as a plot device, a previously intractable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with a contrived introduction of a new character, ability, or object |
| hamartia | a termed developed by Aristotle which can simply be seen as a character's flaw or error |
| hubris | extreme haughtiness or arrogance; often indicates a loss of touch with reality and overestimating one's own competence or capabilities, especially for people in positions of power |
| monomyth | joseph campbell's term for the hero's journey; the mundane world, the call to adventure, crossing the threshold, the path of trials, the master of two worlds |
| nemesis | an agent or act of retribution or punishment |
| peripateia | a reversal of circumstances, or turning point |
| proskenian | where the carved out scene would rest against the wall |
| skene | where the actors would change costumes |
| theatron | where the audience would sit |
| thymele | where sacrifices to Dionysus would take place |
| parados | where only the chorus would enter and exit |
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