FINAL EXAM GUIDELINE English 103
PROSCENIUM ARCH VS. BOX-SET
Intro to Drama: Types of theatre

Proscenium arch
An architectural picture frame or gateway “standing in front of the scenery” /as the name proscenium indicates) that separetes the auditorium from the raised stage and the world of the raised stage and the world of the play.

Box set
A stage set consisting of three walls joined in two coners and a ceiling that tilts, as if seen in perspective, to provide the illusion of scenic realism for interior rooms.

DENOTATION AND CONNOTATION

Denotation – the literal, dictionary meaning of a word

Connotation – an association or additional meaning that a word, image, or

Phrase may carry, apart from its literal denotation or dictionary definition.
A word may pick up connotations from: contexts, past uses, associations, ambiguities, tone / mood, imagery, things that are not told overtly, sudden shifts in subject, etc.

example: “skeleton” (cadaver or keys)

RHYTHM AND METER

Rhythm: The recurring pattern of stresses and pauses in a poem. A fized rhythm in a poem is called meter.

Focus on the stress. If it is fixed, then it is a meter.
4 common meters: iambic ( - /); anapestic (- - /); trochaic (/ -); dactylic (/ - -).
Line length: how many stresses / feet (a foot is a unit of 2 or 3 syllables that contains one stress). E.g., iambic pentameter.
Where does caesura fall?
Type of lines: end-stopped or run-on (enjambment).

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SETTING

The time and place of a story. The setting may also include the climate and even the social, psychological, or spiritual state of the characters

Time & Place of the story (may also include the climate and the social, psychological, or spiritual state of the characters).
Place – Locale (physical environment of the story)
Time (hour, year, century)
Weather (Does it reflect / oppose the character’s personality? Does it serves as motivation)
Atmosphere (total effect conveyed by the story)
Regionalism – the representation of a specific locale with its particulars (geography, custom, history, folklore, speech). In regional narratives, the locale assumes a critical role in the development of the story.

TYPES OF SHORT FICTION

Fable – a brief, often humorous narrative told to illustrate a moral. The main characters are often animals who represent specific human qualities.
Parable – a brief narrative that teaches a moral, but unlike the fable, its plot is plausibly realistic, and the main characters are humans.
Tale – a story, usually short, that sets forth strange and wonderful events in more or less bare summary, without detailed character-drawing. Often applied to “something from the past.” Focus on revelation of the marvelous rather than revelation of character.
Short story – a form more realistic than the tale and of modern origin where the main events are presented in greater fullness and description.

4 TYPES OF POETRY

Lyric Poetry – short; expresses the thoughts and feelings of a single speaker; often written in the first person; often written in language rich in sound; may relate an incident or, more often, draw a scene. E.g., a sonnet.
Narrative Poetry – tells a story; has characters, a setting, and a plot. E.g., a ballad, an epic.
Dramatic Poetry (dramatic monologue) – a speech of an imaginary character addressing another character (who remains silent) at some decisive moment.
Didactic Poetry – to state a message, to teach a lesson, or to transmit a body

TYPES OF IRONY

STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS:

Stream of consciousness: a type of modern narration that uses various literary devices, especially interior monologue, in an attempt to duplicate the subjective and associative nature of human consciousness.

It’s a narrative technique
Modern invention (fin-de-siècle period; end of the 19th century – early 20th century)
To capture the procession of thoughts through the mind
To illustrate subjective reality
No logical connection
Usually short abrupt sentences, but could be