AP Latin: Literary Devices

Alliteration

• Repetition of the initial consonant sound in neighboring words, e.g. "magno cum murmure montis", Aeneid 1

Simile

• An expressed comparison, introduced by a word such as similis, qualis, or velut(i); in epic they tend to be long, to relate to nature, and to digress from the point(s) of comparison

Apostrophe

• Address of an absent person or an abstraction, usually for pathetic effect; e.g. "o terque quaterque beati", Aeneid I

synecdoche

• Use of the part for the whole to avoid common words or to focus attention on a particular part ("puppes" for "naves" in the Aeneid ); a type of METONYMY

Metonymy

• Use of one word for another that it suggests

Hyperbaton

• The violent dislocation of words out of their normal word order; ANASTROPHE = hyperbaton in a prepositional phrase (Italiam contra).

Chiasmus (adj. chiastic)

• The arrangement of words in inverse (A, B, B, A) order, from the Greek letter "X"). This figure often emphasizes a contrast

Metaphor

• An implied comparison, that is, the use of a word or words suggesting a likeness between what is actually being described and something else

Enjambment

• The running over of a sentence from one verse or couplet into another so that closely related words fall in different lines

Asyndeton

• Omission of conjunctions in a closely related series; cf. POLYSYNDETON.

Hyperbole

• Exaggerated or extravagant terms used for emphasis, and not intended to be understood literally

Litotes

• An understatement for emphasis, usually an assertion of something by denying the opposite (e.g. "not unhappy")

Rhetorical question

• A question for which no answer is expected or to which the answer is self-evident

Synchesis (= Interlocked Word Order)

• Arrangement of pairs of words so that one word of each pair is between the words of the other (A, B, A, B). This arrangement normally emphasizes the close association of the pairs

Personification

• The attribution of human qualities or personality to an impersonal thing

Transferred Epithet ( = Hypallage)

• A device of emphasis in which the poet attributes some characteristic of a thing to another thing closely associated with it (e.g. "the mindful wrath of Juno" instead of "the wrath of mindful Juno")

Onomatopoeia (adj. onomatopoeic or onomatopoetic)

• Use of words whose sound suggests the sense

Polysyndeton

• Use of unnecessary conjunctions

Tmesis

• Separation of the parts of a compound word, usually for metrical convenience

Anaphora

• Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses or lines

Allegory

A narrative in which abstract ideas figure as circumstances or persons, usually to enforce a moral truth.

Anthithesis

A contrast of ideas or words, often placed in contrasted pairs in like order

Pathos

An appeal to the audience's emotions (cf. Dido in the Aeneid)

Prolepsis (adj. proleptic)

Use of a word before it is appropriate in the context. A proleptic adjective does not apply to its noun until after the action of the verb and often is best translated with a clause or phrase, to bring out the emphasis on the adjective

Prosopopoeia

a device in which the speaker or author assumes the guise of another person or object to address the audience (e.g. Cicero's Pro Caelio, when Cicero speaks as stern old Appius Claudius Caecus, who is long since deceased)

Syncopation (or Syncope)

The omission of a letter or syllable in the middle of a word (confirmasti = confirmavisti; most common in perfect system of verbs).

Pleonasm (adj. pleonastic)

A redundancy or unnecessary fullness of expression, usually for emphasis

Tricolon Crescens

The use of three examples, each of which is longer or more elaborate than the preceding, in order to emphasize a point.

Oxymoron (= Paradox)

The use of apparently contradictory words in the same phrase (e.g. "jumbo shrimp)

Word picture

Arrangement of words that reinforces the meaning (e.g. "speluncam Dido dux et Troianus eandem" in the Aeneid, where "the same cave" is enveloping "Dido and the Trojan leader").

Zeugma

Use of a verb or adjective with two words with two words when it literally applies only to one (e.g. "Mr. Jones took his coat and his leave").

Praeteritio

the pretense of omitting something in order to make it more emphatic (e.g. Cicero: "I leave unspoken the ruin of your fortunes")

Synesthesia

A cross-sensory metaphor; e.g. English: a loud shirt, a bitter wind, a prickly laugh

Irony

Stating the opposite of what is meant, often with sarcastic intent ("clear as mud").

Ekphrasis (or ecphrasis)

Detailed description, especially within poetry; this figure is often used to describe art within art, as in the lengthy description of Aeneas's shield in Book 8.

Hendiadys

The expression of an idea by two nouns connected by a conjunction, instead of a noun modified by an adjective or by another noun in the genitive

Aposiopesis

The abrupt stopping of a sentence or thought

Epithet

A characterizing word or phrase accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a person or thing

Archaism

The use of an earlier grammatical form or spelling.

Juxtaposition

The use of two opposing things to create a contrast

Homoteleuton

A series of words with the same ending (end-rhyme)

Ellipsis

Omission of one or more words necessary to the sense; editors often supply the needed word using the abbreviation sc. (= "scilicet")

Hysteron-proteron

The inversion of the natural order of events (like "shoes and socks")

Figurative language

Speech that departs from literal meaning to achieve a special effect or meaning (by employing the rhetorical devices on this list).