Blank Verse
**Blank verse** refers to unrhymed lines written in **iambic pentameter**. Iambic pentameter is a line of verse with five **iambic feet**. A key characteristic is that the last word of a line does not rhyme with the last word of the following lines.
* **Example 1**: The provided text gives this example from Milton's *Paradise Lost, Book IX*:
> How can / I live / without / thee? how / forgo/
> Thy sweet / converse / and love / so dearly / join'd,
> To live / again / in these / wild woods / forlorn?
* **Example 2**: The document also includes this example from Christopher Marlowe's *Doctor Faustus, Act V, Scene V*:
> Was this / the face / that launch'd / a thou / sand ships,
> And burnt / the topless / towers / of Ileum?
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### Caesura
A **caesura** is a break or **pause** in the rhythmic progression of a verse line. This pause is often marked by the symbol "||". A caesura is used to add variety to the natural rhythm of a piece and to create **metrical subtlety** and make meanings sharper and distinct.
* **Example 1**: The text provides this example from Thomas Gray's "Elegy":
> The boast of heraldry, || the pomp of power,
> And all that beauty, || all that wealth e'er gave.
* **Example 2**: Another example from Alexander Pope's "An Essay on Criticism" is also given:
> To err is human, || to forgive divine.
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### Catastrophe
**Catastrophe** is the **dreadful consequence** that concludes the story of a tragedy. It is the final scene where the action ends with the **death of the hero** and other characters. In Hamlet, the catastrophe occurs at the death scene of Hamlet, Gertrude, the King, and Laertes.
* **Example**: The document states that in Marlowe's *Doctor Faustus*, the catastrophe takes place in the last scene, where Faustus begins to beg for God's forgiveness but is dragged to hell by Lucifer.
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### Catharsis
**Catharsis** is the **purging or purification** of **pity and fear** that spectators feel while watching a tragedy. A dramatic presentation of **suffering or death** arouses these emotions, which are then relieved and cleansed from the mind.
* **Example**: The text mentions that in Shakespeare's *Othello*, catharsis occurs when Othello kills Desdemona and himself. Another example is the ending of Milton's *Samson Agonistes*, where the audience feels a "cleansed mind" and that "all passion" is spent.
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### Chiasmus
**Chiasmus** is a rhetorical device involving the **inversion of the order of words or phrases** when they are repeated. The effect of this inversion is to make the meaning more impressive.
* **Example 1**: A classic example is from John F. Kennedy's speech:
> "Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind."
* **Example 2**: The document also includes this example from Shakespeare's *Macbeth*:
> "Fair is foul, and foul is fair."
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### Chorus
A **chorus** is a group of **performers** who sing, dance, and take part in the action of a play. The number of people in a chorus can vary. According to Aristotle, the chorus is one of the **constituent elements of tragedy**. The functions of a chorus in classical tragedies include determining the structure of a Greek tragedy, creating background and atmosphere, and commenting on past and future events.
* **Example**: The text notes that Sophocles used a chorus in *Oedipus Rex* and *Antigone*.
***
### Circumlocution or Periphrasis
**Circumlocution** or **periphrasis** is a roundabout way of stating or writing an idea. Instead of using a few words, many are used to serve the same purpose.
* **Example 1**: The phrase "the eye of heaven" is a circumlocution for the **sun**. * **Example 2**: The text also includes an example from Pope's *The Rape of the Lock*:
> "The glittering forfex" and the "fatal engine" are circumlocutions for **scissors**.
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### Classic
A **classic** is a work of literature that has stood the test of time and possesses **timeless qualities**. These works have a universal appeal to people of all ages and countries. They are also called "the classics" or **ancient classics** because they are considered the masterpieces of ancient Greek and Roman literature. The word "classical" refers to Greek and Roman art and literature that possess qualities like clarity, symmetry, and reason.
* **Examples of ancient classics**: The document lists works such as Sophocles' *Antigone*, Homer's *Iliad* and *Odyssey*, and Virgil's *Aeneid*.
* **Examples of modern classics**: Modern examples include Shakespeare's comedies and tragedies, and works by Ernest Hemingway and George Orwell.
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### Climax
The **climax** is the **peak of importance** in a play or story. It is the point where the **rise of action ends** and the fall of action begins. It represents the most important event after which the action falls.
* **Example 1**: In Sophocles' *Antigone*, the climax is when Antigone's death sentence is pronounced.
* **Example 2**: The text notes that the climax of Shakespeare's *Macbeth* is the point where he gets scared by the appearance of Banquo's ghost.
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### Comic Relief
**Comic relief** is a humorous scene placed between serious scenes of a tragedy. Its purpose is to relieve the tension for a short time and **heighten the tragic effect** by contrast.
* **Example**: The grave digger scene in Shakespeare's *Hamlet*, Act V, Scene 1, is a classic example of comic relief.
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### Conceit
A **conceit** is a comparison between two **far-fetched** or dissimilar objects. These comparisons are often surprising and delight readers with their inventiveness. A famous example is John Donne's comparison between two lovers' souls and a pair of compasses.
* **Example**: The document provides an excerpt from Donne's "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning":
> If they be two, they are two so
> As stiff twin compasses are two;
> Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show
> To move, but doth, if th' other do.
***
### Connotation
**Connotation** is the **indirect meaning** of a word. It is the **suggestion** or associated significance implied by a word, beyond its literal or direct meaning (denotation). Connotative meanings can be either positive or negative.
* **Example**: The text explains that the word "home" literally means "a roofed structure to live in" (denotation), but its connotative meaning suggests **peace, intimacy, and family bonds**.
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### Consonance
**Consonance** is the repetition of consonant sounds without similar vowels at the end of accented syllables.
* **Example**: In the phrase "Rough wi**nds** do shake the darling bu**ds** of May," from Shakespeare's "Sonnet XVIII," the "d" and "s" sounds are repeated at the end of syllables.
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### Couplet
A **couplet** is a pair of two verse lines that **rhyme** together at the end.
* **Example 1**: The text provides this example from Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening":
> And miles to go before I sleep,
> And miles to go before I sleep.
* **Example 2**: Another example is from John Dryden's *Mac Flecknoe*:
> All human things are subject to decay,
> And when fate summons, monarchs must obey.
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