Description
https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/MND_M/inde…
As you read (and watch)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
this week, keep your eyes (and ears) peeled for the use of a range of figurative devices (i.e., not just metaphors and similes). ?Shakespeare, like most poets and playwrights of his time, was well educated in the art of rhetoric and knew how best to employ devices such as anaphora, antithesis, apostrophe (and many, many more!) to add emphasis, elicit emotion, and to delight the ears of his audiences. ?While it is very useful for literary critics to know the names and definitions of such devices, it is even more important to be able to notice when an author is manipulating language in an unusual way and to try to understand why and what effect this word-smithing has on readers and on the story being told.
For this assignment you’ll be practicing this important aspect of literary critical work.
Use the
Figurative Language in Shakespeare flashcards set (Links to an external site.)
on Quizlet.com to review some basic concepts
Identify one instance in which Shakespeare employs a figurative device other than a metaphor or simile in
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Transcribe the lines from the play in which the figurative device appears and give the act, scene and line numbers
Name or describe and define the figurative device that is being used
In a short paragraph of 2-3 sentences, explain how the use of this device influences readers’ understanding of the lines. ?Is the device used for emphasis, to heighten emotion, or does it make another kind of impact? ?How is this achieved?
