What literary elements are included in Oedipus Rex?

Oedipus Rex by Sophocles has often been held up as the paradigmatic example of the Greek tragedy, possessing many of the literary elements that ancient critics considered essential to the genre.

The first literary element one finds is the use of verse. Unlike contemporary dramas, which are written in prose, Oedipus Rex is written entirely in verse. 

As is typical of Greek tragedies, Oedipus Rexis performed by three actors and a chorus. The actors...

Oedipus Rex by Sophocles has often been held up as the paradigmatic example of the Greek tragedy, possessing many of the literary elements that ancient critics considered essential to the genre.

The first literary element one finds is the use of verse. Unlike contemporary dramas, which are written in prose, Oedipus Rex is written entirely in verse. 

As is typical of Greek tragedies, Oedipus Rex is performed by three actors and a chorus. The actors engaged in spoken verse dialogue, while the choral odes were normally sung; the chorus would dance as they sang and certain choral meters were often accompanied by traditional dance movements associated with those metrical patterns.

Oedipus Rex alternates episodes, in which the actors engage in dialogue, frequently in the meter of iambic hexameter, with choral odes in varied meters, performed by the chorus. The choral odes were normally organized into a strophe, in which the chorus moved in one direction, followed by an antistrophe in the identical meter in which the chorus moved back in the opposite direction to its original position, and an epode, performed standing still. 

The plot structure of the play begins with an exposition that informs the audience of a problem, the plague in the city of Thebes. The middle of the play develops mystery and conflict, and consists of what is sometimes termed "rising action". The climax of the play occurs when we discover that Oedipus has indeed killed his father and married his mother. The resolution of the play occurs when Oedipus blinds himself and leaves the city. Thus the play has the narrative literary elements of plot structure and conflict.