Antilabe is a technique in drama

Drama

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

 or poetry

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

, in which a single verse line is distributed on two or more characters, voices, or entities. The verse usually maintains its metric integrity, while the line fragments spoken by the characters may or may not be complete sentences. The fragments following the first one are often indented to show the unity of the verse line.

Example:

BRUTUS: Peace then. No words.

CLITUS:                                      I'll rather kill myself.|Julius Caesar]])

These are three sentences spoken by two persons. But it is only one single line in blank verse

Blank verse

Blank verse is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the sixteenth century" and Paul Fussell has claimed that "about three-quarters of all English poetry is in blank verse."The first...

:

Peace then. No words. I'll rather kill myself.

An extreme example from Shakespeare is:

Death?

My lord?

A grave.

He shall not live.

External links

• "The Dramatic Function of Antilabe in Greek Tragedy by Robert Hogan".