AP Latin: Literary Devices

0.0(0)
studied byStudied by 0 people
learnLearn
examPractice Test
spaced repetitionSpaced Repetition
heart puzzleMatch
flashcardsFlashcards
Card Sorting

1/43

flashcard set

Earn XP

Description and Tags

AP Latin

Study Analytics
Name
Mastery
Learn
Test
Matching
Spaced

No study sessions yet.

44 Terms

1
New cards

Alliteration

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

2
New cards

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

3
New cards

Apostrophe

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

4
New cards

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

5
New cards

Metonymy

  • Use of one word for another that it suggests

6
New cards

Hyperbaton

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

7
New cards

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

8
New cards

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

9
New cards

Enjambment

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

10
New cards

Asyndeton

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

11
New cards

Hyperbole

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

12
New cards

Litotes

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

13
New cards

Rhetorical question

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

14
New cards

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

15
New cards

Personification

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

16
New cards

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")

17
New cards

Onomatopoeia (adj. onomatopoeic or onomatopoetic)

  • Use of words whose sound suggests the sense

18
New cards

Polysyndeton

  • Use of unnecessary conjunctions

19
New cards

Tmesis

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

20
New cards

Anaphora

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

21
New cards

Allegory

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

22
New cards

Anthithesis

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

23
New cards

Pathos

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

24
New cards

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

25
New cards

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)

26
New cards

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).

27
New cards

Pleonasm (adj. pleonastic)

A redundancy or unnecessary fullness of expression, usually for emphasis

28
New cards

Tricolon Crescens

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

29
New cards

Oxymoron (= Paradox)

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

30
New cards

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").

31
New cards

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").

32
New cards

Praeteritio

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

33
New cards

Synesthesia

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

34
New cards

Irony

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

35
New cards

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.

36
New cards

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

37
New cards

Aposiopesis

The abrupt stopping of a sentence or thought

38
New cards

Epithet

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

39
New cards

Archaism

The use of an earlier grammatical form or spelling.

40
New cards

Juxtaposition

The use of two opposing things to create a contrast

41
New cards

Homoteleuton

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

42
New cards

Ellipsis

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

43
New cards

Hysteron-proteron

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

44
New cards

Figurative language

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