Unit 2: Selection Vocabulary 3

This list covers Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Literary Seminar: The Sonnet.
12 words 5 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. character
    a property that defines the individual nature of something
    Two ELIZABETHANS are passing time in a place without any visible character.
  2. apparently
    seemingly; as far as one can tell
    GUILDENSTERN takes a coin out of his bag, spins it and lets it fall. ROSENCRANTZ studies it, announces it as "heads" (as it happens) and puts it into his own bag. Then they repeat the process. They have apparently been doing it for some time.
  3. implication
    a meaning that is not expressly stated but can be inferred
    He is not worried about the money, but he is worried by the implications...
  4. process
    a particular course of action intended to achieve a result
    [He picks it up and puts it in his money bag. The process is repeated.]
  5. confines
    a bounded scope
    GUILDENSTERN, examining the confines of the stage, flips over two more coins, as he does so, one by one of course.
  6. recognizable
    capable of being identified
    The sonnet, a specialized form of lyric poetry, has been used in many of the most recognizable poems throughout history.
  7. deft
    skillful in physical movements; especially of the hands
    Due to its specific structure, the sonnet requires an economy of language as well as a deft and technical writing style.
  8. rigidity
    the quality of being inflexible and severe
    However, the most masterful poets have been able to escape the seeming rigidity of the meter through small variations, such as adding syllables or beginning a line on a stressed, rather than an unstressed, syllable.
  9. determine
    shape or influence; give direction to
    Sonnets also have set rhyme schemes, determined by the final sounds in the lines.
  10. diversify
    make more varied
    Iambic pentameter and fourteen rhyming lines define the sonnet; however, poets have diversified the form over hundreds of years as they adapted to local languages and styles.
  11. unrequited
    not returned in kind
    Many of Petrarch’s sonnets are about unrequited love, a common topic for sonnets that follow the form he standardized.
  12. grievous
    causing or marked by grief or anguish
    If my life find strength enough to fight
    the grievous battle of each passing day
Created on Wed Dec 23 10:27:59 EST 2020 (updated Tue Jan 05 14:58:10 EST 2021)

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