LITERARY TERMS IN
ROMEO AND JULIET
Ms. Tan/English 9
FORESHADOWING
Definition: The use of clues to hint at events that will occur
later in the plot.
Used to build suspense, anxiety in a reader
Example: If the picture below is a picture of someone’s
wedding day, what kind of a marriage can you predict for the
couple?
SIMILE
Definition: Figure of speech that makes a comparison
between two unlike things, using like, as, resembles, or than
Example: “My love is LIKE a red rose.”
“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun.”
METAPHOR
Definition: Figure of speech that makes a direct comparison
between two unlike things, in which one becomes the other
Example: “My love IS a red rose.”
“My mistress’ eyes are NOT the sun.”
PERSONIFICATION
Definition: Kind of metaphor in which a nonhuman thing/
quality/idea is talked about as if it were human
Example: “This poetry gets bored of being alone, it wants to
go outdoors to chew on the winds, to fill its commas with the
keels of rowboats” (Hugo Margenat)
PUN
Definition: Play on multiple meanings of a word or on two
words that sound alike but have different meanings
Example: “You have dancing shoes / With nimble soles; I
have a soul of lead...” (Romeo, I.iv.14-15)
PUNS (CONTINUED)
A woman has twins and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named
Amal. The other goes to a family in Spain. They name
him Juan. Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth
mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her
husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Amal. He responds, "They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've
seen Amal."
OXYMORON
Definition: A figure of speech that combines two normally
contradictory (or opposite) words
Example: organized mess, open secret, jumbo shrimp,
accidentally on purpose, deafening silence, icy hot
HYPERBOLE
Definition: (hy PUR buh lee) Figure of speech that uses
exaggeration to express strong emotion or to create comic
effect
Example: “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse!”
SYMBOL
Definition: Person, place, thing, or event
that stands for itself and for something
beyond itself as well
Example: bald eagle = the United States;
scale = justice
What other symbols can you think of?
FOIL
Definition: Character who is used as a
contrast to another character
used to accentuate and clarify the
distinct qualities of two characters
Example: The Joker is a foil for Batman
because the antagonist’s “evilness”
highlights the protagonist’s virtues.
IRONY
Verbal Irony: a speaker saying one thing but really means
something completely different
Situational Irony: when there is a contrast between what
would seem appropriate/expected and what really happens
Dramatic Irony: when the audience knows something
important that a character in the story does not know
COUPLET
Definition: Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme
used for comic effect, but also to complete thoughts;
Shakespeare uses them to end important speeches or
scenes
Example: “The which if you with patient ears attend, / What
here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend” (Prologue)
ASIDE
Definition: Spoken by a character to himself, to let the
audience hear his thoughts
INNUENDO*
Definition: A remark, usually suggestive or derogatory in
nature, that is implied
ALLITERATION
Definition: A poetic term, two or more words that begin with
the same consonant sound
Example: “Sally sold seashells by the seashore” or “That’s
how the cookie crumbles.”
EYE RHYME
Definition: Also known as approximate rhyme, this is a
rhyme between words that have similar spelling but do not
rhyme verbally.
Example: again and rain; temperate and date