Rhetorical Devices:

allegory: an extended metaphor, prolonged use of an image to express meaning alliteration: repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of a series of words Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. vastōs volvunt ad lītora flūctūs (I.86) anaphora: repetition of a word or words at the beginning of successive clauses We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas…. (Winston Churchill) Mīrātur mōlem Aenēās…mīrātur portās (I.421) anastrophe: inversion of usual word order (i.e. prepositions and objects) Up the hill went Jack and Jill. maria omnia circum. “around all seas” (I.32) aposiopesis: breaking off in the middle of a sentence I am so angry. Oh, you can go to… Quos ego ---! Sed motos praestat componere fluctus. (Aeneid I.135) apostrophe: sudden turn to address a person or object who is present or absent Twinkle, twinkle, little star. How I wonder what you are. O patria, O divum domus Ilium! (Aeneid 2.241) asyndeton: omission of conjunctions But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground…(Lincoln) saevus ubi Aeacidae tēlō iacet Hector, (et) ubi ingēns Sarpedon, (et) ubi tot Simoīs… (I.99-101) chiasmus: an “a-b-b-a” arrangement of words, often used with pairs of nouns and adjectives Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country Nāvem in cōnspectū nūllam, trēs lītore cervōs (noun, adj., adj. noun) I.184) ecphrasis: extended description of a work of art or scene of nature ellipsis: omission of words easily understood in context She is enrolled in Latin; he, in Spanish. Haec sēcum (dīxit)… “(she said) these things with herself’ (I.37) enjambment: continuation of a clause beyond the end of one line and into the beginning of the next litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto vi superum, (I.3-4) golden line: synchesis (interlocking word order) with a verb in the middle Tantane vos generis tenuit fīducia vestri? (I.132) hendiadys: expressing a single idea with two nouns joined by a conjunction It sure is nice and cool today! (for “nicely cool”) Molemque et montes (for “mass of mountains”) (Aeneid I.61) hyperbaton: distortion of normal word order (e.g. separation of words meant to be together) This I must see! Omnem miscet agēns tēlīs nemora inter frondea turbam (I.190-1) hyperbole: exaggeration I must have translated a million lines today. clamores simul horrendos ad sidera tollit “he raised horrible shouts to the stars” (2.222) Rhetorical Devices 141 hysteron proteron: reversal of the natural order of events Put your shoes and socks on! summersāsque obrue puppēs “rush over the sunken ships” (I.69) interlocking word order (synchesis): ABAB order often used with pairs of nouns and adjectives saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram ( Adj.1 – Adj.2 – Noun1 –Noun2) (I.4) litotes: use of a negative (often, a double negative) to express something positive She is not a bad singer. (i.e. She’s a good singer.) Neque enim ignari sumus., “We are not ignorant of evils…” (1.198) metaphor: expression of meaning through another image Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched! spumas salis aere ruebant “they turned over the foam of the sea with bronze” (i.e. ships are plows, I.35) metonymy: the use of one noun or image to suggest another The pen is mightier than the sword. (the pen suggests discourse; the sword suggests violence.) Arma virumque cano. (arma suggests war) (I.1) onomatopoeia: use of words that sound like their meaning click, clack. magno cum murmure montis (I.55) personification: attribution of human characteristics to something not human Mother nature cares for us all. Fāma…ingrediturque solo et caput inter nubila condit (4.173-94) pleonasm: the use of superfluous words to enrich the thought I saw the UFO with my own eyes. (as opposed to someone else’s eyes?) Āmēns animī “mindless in his mind” (4.203) polysyndeton: use of more conjunctions (Gr. syndeton) than are needed He ran and laughed and jumped for joy. Eurusque Notusque ruunt creberque procellis Africus (I.85-6) simile: explicit comparison using words “like” or “as” (sicut, similis, velut, quālis, quam) Just as the sands in the hourglass, so are the days of our lives. Quālis apēs…exercet labor… “just as work busies the bees” (I.430-6) synecdoche: the use of the part to express the whole, a type of metonomy I drove a new set of wheels off the lot today. (wheels = car) summersāsque obrue puppēs “rush over the sunken ships” (decks suggest ships, I.69) synchesis (interlocking word order): ABAB order often used with pairs of nouns and adjectives saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram ( Adj.1 – Adj.2 – Noun1 –Noun2) (I.4) tmesis: the separation of a compound word into two parts I didn’t want that comic book any-old-how. Bis collo squamea circum terga dati. (=circumdati) (2.218-19) transferred epithet (enallage): the transfer of an adjective from its proper object to a related object saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram (Juno, not the anger, is mindful) (1.4)