Shakespearean

Like the Globe's playwright

Shakespearean describes anything relating to or characteristic of William Shakespeare, the English playwright and poet.

A Shakespearean sonnet follows a specific fourteen-line rhyme scheme.

Shakespearean tragedy features noble protagonists brought low by fatal flaws.

More loosely, Shakespearean describes drama of epic scope or heightened emotion: The family feud had taken on Shakespearean proportions.

Also spelled Shakespearian.

tragic

Hamlet

Danish prince's revenge tragedy

OthelloVenetian military commander
MacbethAmbitious thane's downfall
Romeo and JulietTragedy of rival households

King Lear · Julius Caesar · Antony and Cleopatra · Coriolanus · hubris · catharsis · downfall · revenge · jealousy · ambition

theatrical

soliloquy

Dramatic speech to oneself

monologueUninterrupted solo address
stageRaised performance platform
actorOne who portrays characters

performance · audience · tragedy · comedy · history · drama · costume · thespian · troupe · proscenium

poetic

iambic pentameter

Unstressed-stressed pattern, five feet

sonnetFourteen-line metered poem
coupletTwo successive verse lines
verseMetered poetic passage

rhyme · quatrain · metaphor · imagery · alliteration · blank verse · meter · stanza · wordplay · puns

language

thou

Archaic second-person pronoun

theeSecond-person object, antiquated
thyOld possessive pronoun
thineYours, archaically

hast · doth · ere · whence · thither · hither · wherefore · prithee · verily · forsooth

Elizabethan

Globe Theatre

Historic circular London playhouse

Stratford-upon-AvonWarwickshire market town
TudorSixteenth-century English ruling family
RenaissanceEuropean cultural reawakening

bard · folio · quill · parchment · Queen Elizabeth I · courtier · doublet · ruff · farthingale · groundlings

comedic

Twelfth Night

Final Yuletide evening

Much Ado About NothingElizabethan comedy of courtship
As You Like ItPastoral romantic comedy
witClever, inventive humor

A Midsummer Night's Dream · jest · mistaken identity · cross-dressing · lovers · Puck · Falstaff · Beatrice · fool · marriage

Categories

dramaTV drama, acting, television drama, drama school, playwright
Early English VerseChaucer, Spenser, Milton, Donne, sonnets
sonnetssonnet, Petrarchan sonnet, English sonnet, Italian sonnet, octave
poetrypoem, poems, poetry, verse, verses
theaterplays, stage, play, onstage, acting
Proper AdjectivesAmerican, British, Chinese, French, German

Opposites

literary style and register

Shakespeareanprosaic

Lacking imagination or excitement

minimalist · Hemingwayesque · colloquial · plainspoken · vernacular

literary period and tradition

Shakespeareanmodernist

Advocate of experimental forms

postmodern · contemporary · Victorian · medieval · Brechtian

dramatic scope and grandeur

Shakespeareanmundane

Commonplace, lacking excitement

banal · pedestrian · petty · trivial · quotidian

Phrases

William Shakespeare
shakespeare character
Shakespearean playWork by Stratford's playwright
Shakespearean sonnetFourteen-line poem, ABAB pattern
Shakespearean tragedyFatal stage work, sixteenth century
Shakespearean actorPerformer of Elizabethan drama

Family

Shakespearean sonnet, Shakespeare

Familiarity: Top 200,000
Profile: Used worldwide · Timeless · Abstract · Rated G