“The Taming of the Shrew”
By William Shakespeare
Honors 2/ Mrs. Thaler—Pre-AP Literary Devices: TYPE YOUR ASSIGNMENT.
A) Define the following literary devices/terms.
B) Then, locate and list an example (a specific quoted line) from the play, The
Taming of the Shrew to illustrate the device used. Cite the Act, Scene,
Line (I, ii, 12-14)
C) Every device has a purpose. Analyze its purpose. Why is the device used?
What does it do or accomplish?
1) Allusion
2) Anaphora
3) Aside
4) Asyndeton
5) Blank Verse
6) Dramatic Monologue
7) Dramatic Irony
8) Epigram
9) Farce
10) Foil
11) The Fool
12) Frame Tale
13) Heroic Couplet
14) Hyperbole
15) Iambic Pentameter
16) Imagery (animal)
17) Induction
18) Metaphor
19) Metonomy (or Metonymy)
20) Pun
21) Rhetorical Question
22) Satire
23) Shakespearean Insult
24) Simile
25) Style
26) Tone
Literary Devices in The Taming of the Shrew
1) Allusion: A figure of speech that make a reference to a specific famous,
well-known person, place, event, or literary work directly or indirectly
2) Anaphora: the use of the same word or phrase at the beginning of
several successive clauses, sentences, lines, or verses, usually for
emphasis or rhetorical effect. "She didn't speak. She didn't stand. She
didn't even look up when we came in" is an example of anaphora.
3) Aside: a remark made by an actor, usually to the audience, that the
other characters on stage supposedly cannot hear
4) Asyndeton: the omission of conjunctions in sentence constructions in
which they would usually be used.
5) Blank Verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter
6) Dramatic Monologue: dramatic speech of a lone character directly to the
reader or to the listener.
7) Dramatic Irony: a situation, or irony arising from a situation where the
audience knows more about what is happening than a character in the
story does.
8) Epigram: a concise, witty, and often paradoxical remark or saying
9) Farce: style of comic drama in which authority, order, and morality are at
risk and ordinary people are caught up in extraordinary events
10) Foil: a character who contrasts with another character (usually the
protagonist) in order to highlight particular qualities of the other
character.
11) The Fool: Literature is filled with fools and tricksters. It’s a stock
character. Down through literary history, the fools have provided comic
relief.
12) Frame Tale: a secondary story or stories embedded in the main story
13) Heroic Couplet: a couplet of rhyming iambic pentameter
14) Hyperbole: the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of
speech. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong
impression
15) Iambic Pentameter: is defined by its rhythm of pairing ten syllables for
each line into five pairs of unstressed/stressed syllables
16) Imagery (animal)—language that forms mental images and appeals to the
five senses, as it refers to animals.
17) Induction: an introductory and explanatory scene or other intrusion that
stands outside and apart from the main action with the intent to
comment on it, moralize about the play
18) Metaphor a figure of speech, comparison saying one thing is another for
a point of comparison.
19) Metonomy (or Metonymy) is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a
thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of
something intimately associated with that thing or concept. Like the
White House, or Hollywood.
20) Pun is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by
exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words .
21) Rhetorical Question is a figure of speech in the form of a question that
is asked in order to make a point and without the expectation of a reply
22) Satire the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing,
denouncing, or deriding vice , folly,
23) Shakespearean Insult: Thou villainous common-kissing puttock!
24) Simile: A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two
different things, usually by employing the words "like" or "as"
25) Style
26) Tone