Key Terms

Here are some of the key terms that get used when talking about Shakespeare’s language, so you can look out for them in Twelfth Night.
  • Prose and Verse

    Play Prose and Verse Video

    Shakespeare writes in a combination of prose and verse. Prose is a conversational way of speaking which doesn’t have a set rhythm or structure. Verse always has a set rhythm and structure.

    Where will I find it in Twelfth Night?

    40% of Twelfth Night is written in verse, so more than half the play is in prose. You can tell whether prose or verse is being used by looking at the page in the text. Where it looks like a poem, Shakespeare is using verse. If it looks like writing in a book that goes the whole way across the page, he's writing in prose.
  • Iambic Pentameter

    Play Iambic Pentameter Video

    Iambic pentameter is the name given to the rhythm that Shakespeare uses in his plays. The rhythm of iambic pentameter is like a heartbeat, with one soft beat and one strong beat repeated five times.

    Where will I find it in Twelfth Night?

    Iambic pentameter is used in the sections of the play where the text is in verse. The play opens with a line of iambic pentameter: ‘If music be the food of love, play on’ (Orsino, 1:1). If you count the syllables in this line, then read it aloud emphasising the second, fourth, sixth, eight and tenth syllables, you can see how it works.
  • Rhyming Couplets

    Play Rhyming Couplets Video

    Rhyming couplets are two lines written in iambic pentameter that end in the same sound, or a rhyme. They are often used to sum up the end of a character’s speech.

    Where will I find it in Twelfth Night?

    Rhyming couplets are most often used at the end of scenes and by characters expressing their love. For example Viola tells the audience, ‘yet, a barful strife / Whoe’er I woo, myself would be his wife.’ (1:4). After falling in love with Cesario, Olivia says, ‘Fate, show thy force, ourselves we do not owe, / What is decreed must be and be this so’ (1:5).
  • Antithesis

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    Antithesis happens when two opposites are put together. For example, hot and cold or light and dark.

    Where will I find it in Twelfth Night?

    Orsino uses antithesis to describe Olivia as having ‘a raven’s heart within a dove’ (5:1). The main contrast here is between the black raven and the white dove. Images of black and white are often used in Shakespeare connected with bad and good. There is also the suggestion here that she has a cunning heart, like a clever raven, inside the innocent appearance of a dove.
  • Dramatic Irony
    Dramatic irony is the term used when references or situations are understood by the audience but not by one or more of the characters on stage, usually for comic effect.

    Where will I find it in Twelfth Night?

    Shakespeare uses dramatic irony during Act 2 Scene 5, when Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Fabian watch Malvolio read a letter he thinks is from Olivia. While the audience, and the three characters watching, know that the letter is fake and he is being watched he does not.

Test Yourself on language terms

Shakespeare writes in a combination of prose and verse. Verse is like poetry and it has a set structure and rhythm. The rhythm Shakespeare uses in his plays is called iambic pentameter, which is like a heartbeat, with one soft beat and one strong beat repeated five times. Sometimes it’s also interesting to look at lines that don’t match the rhythm of iambic pentameter and to think about why.
In Shakespeare’s plays, you will find examples of antithesis, which is when two opposites are put together, like hot and cold or light and dark. Characters also often end speeches with rhyming couplets, which are two lines written in iambic pentameter that end in the same sound, or a rhyme.

Prose

The style of writing you might find in a book.

Take another look at the prose & verse definitions

Structure

Another word for organise or lay out.

Take another look at Nia’s definition of verse

Iambic

This words comes from the Latin word iam meaning beat.

Take another look at the iambic pentameter definitions

heartbeat

The rhythm you feel in your chest, like a pulse.

Take another look at Nia’s definition of iambic pentameter

five

The Latin word for this number is ‘pent’.

Take another look at the definition of iambic pentameter

opposites

Another word for completely different things.

Take another look at Nia’s definition of antithesis

Dark

The total opposite of light.

Take another look at the definition of antithesis

Couplets

Another word for when two lines are coupled together.

Take another look at the definition of rhyming couplets

Iambic Pentameter

The name for the rhythm Shakespeare writes in.

Take another look at your third answer and take another look at the definitions.

Sound

Another word for something you hear.

Take another look at Nia’s definition of rhyming couplets

Teacher Notes

You can use the activities in the videos on this page with students, to explore the language in the play as you work through it. The activity which is used to explore iambic pentameter will be very useful in understanding rhythm and structure.