Latin NLE: Figures of Speech and Rhetorical Devices

alliteration

Repetition of the same sound, usually initial, in two or three words. Mainly used with consonants and accented initial vowels.

(ex: magno cum murmure montis, Aeneid 1.55)

anaphora

Repetition of a word, usually at the beginning of successive clauses or phrase, for emphasis or for emphatic effect. Often accompanied by asyndeton and ellipsis.

(ex: hic illius arma, hic currus fuit; hoc regnum..., Aeneid 1.16-1.17)

(ex: ubi...ubi...ubi, Aeneid 1.99-100)

aposiopesis

An abrupt failure to complete a sentence, for rhetorical effect.

(ex: Quos ego - , Aeneid 1.135))

apostrophe

Address of an absent person or an abstraction, usually for pathetic effect .

(ex: o terque quaterque beati, Aeneid 1.94).

assonance

The close recurrence of similar sounds, usually used of vowel sounds.

(ex: amissos longo socios sermone requirunt, Aeneid 1.217)

asyndeton

Omission of conjunctions in a closely related series (don't confuse with anaphora; they're different)

(ex: veni, vidi, vici)

chiasmis

Arrangement of pairs of words in opposite order in an ABBA format.

(ex: visceribus atras pascit effossis aves, Thyestes 10)

ellipse

The suppression of a word or of several words of minor importance the logical expression of the thought, but necessary to the construction. It allows for brevity, force and liveliness and often unconsciously supplied.

(ex: Haec secum (dixit), Aeneid 1.37)

enjambment

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

(ex: ac veluti magno in populo cum saepe coorta est seditio, Aeneid 1.148-49)

euphemism

The substitution of a less direct expression in place of one whose plainer meaning might be unpleasant or offensive.

hendiadys

The expression of a single idea by two words connected with a conjunction.

(ex: molem et montes, Aeneid 1.61)

hyperbole

Exaggeration for effect.

(ex: terram inter fluctus aperit, Aeneid 1.107)

interlocked order (synchysis)

Arrangement of pairs of words so that one word of each pair is between the words of the other in an ABAB format. This emphasizes the close associate of the pairs.

(ex: saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram, Aeneid 1.4)

litotes

An understatement for emphasis, usually an assertion of something by denying the opposite or negative connotation.

(ex: neque enim ignari sumus, Aeneid 1.198)

metaphor

An implied comparison, using one word for another that it suggests, usually with a visual effect.

(remigio alarum, Aeneid 1.301)

metonymy

Use of one noun in place of another closely related noun to avoid common or ordinary words.

(ex: Cererem corruptam undis, Aeneid 1.177)

onomatopoeia

Use of words whose sound suggests the sense.

(ex: magno cum murmure montis, Aeneid 1.55)

personification

Treating inanimate/ nonhuman objects in a human sense.

(ex: suadentque cadentia sidera somnos, Aeneid 2.9)

polysyndeton

Use of unnecessary conjunctions.

(ex: Eurusque Notusque ruunt creberque...Africus, Aeneid 1.85-86)

prolepsis

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 is often best translated with a clause or phrase to bring out the emphasis on the adjective.

simile

An expressed comparison, introduced by a word such as similis, qualis, or velut(i).

(ex: velut agmine facto, Aeneid 1.82)

synedoche

Use of the part for the whole to avoid common words or to focus attention on a particular part.

(ex: puppes for naves, Aeneid 1.68)

transferred epithet

A device of emphasis in which the poet attributes some characteristic of a thing to another thing closely associated with it.

(ex: templumque vetustum desertae Cereris, Aeneid 2.713-714)

zeugma

Use of a verb or adjective with two words, to only one of which it literally applies.

(ex: crudeles aras traiectaque pectora ferro nudavit, Aeneid 1.355-56).