pun | use of the word choler(meaning angry) and collar(a hangman’s noose) at the same time |
allusion | Romeo alludes to the mythological goddess Diana when he describes Rosaline’s intelligence. “She hath Dian’s wit….” (1.1.202) |
oxymoron | “O brawling love! O loving hate!… O heavy lightness! Serious vanity!” (1.1.169-171) |
metaphor | I will make thee think thy swan a crow” (1.2.87) Benvolio tells Romeo if he looks at other beautiful girls, Rosaline will seem ugly. |
dramatic irony | The Capulet servant invites the enemies of Capulet(Romeo and Benvolio) to Capulet’s party |
metaphor | “Read o’er the volume of young Paris’ face, And find delight writ there with beauty’s pen” (1.3.82-83). Lady Capulet tells her daughter Juliet to seriously consider marrying Paris, whom she compares to a book. |
extended metaphor | a fanciful comparison developed at great length |
oxymoron | a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction |
pun | a play on words |
allusion | an indirect reference to a well-known person, place, thing, or other literary work |
personification | giving human qualities to non-human things |
oxymoron | short, contradictory phrases; a figure of speech that combines contradictory terms |
paradox | statements that are seemingly contradictory but yet contain some truth |
foreshadowing | when the author hints about something that will happen |
pun | Soles/soul: “you have dancing shoes/with nimble soles; I have a soul of lead….” (1.4.15-16) Romeo explains to Mercutio that he is too sad to dance. |
foreshadowing | “I fear…some consequence, yet hanging in the stars/shall bitterlybegin his fearful date with this night’s revels….(ending in) ultimately death” (1.4.106-111) This is Romeo who thinks someone will die. |
paradox | “My only love, sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late!” (1.5.136-137) Juliet discovers that she has fallen in love with a member of an enemy family. |
Romeo and Juliet Act 1 Identifying Literary Devices
July 20, 2019