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Principal Rhetorical and Literary Devices: Matter?")

This document lists and defines 25 principal rhetorical and literary devices used in Latin literature, including alliteration, anaphora, asyndeton, chiasmus, ellipsis, hendiadys, hyperbole, hysteron proteron, litotes, metaphor, metonymy, onomatopoeia, oxymoron, personification, pleonasm, polysyndeton, prolepsis, simile, synecdoche, tmesis, tricolon crescens, and zeugma. Each device is briefly defined through a Latin example.

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Samuel Kodjoe
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217 views

Principal Rhetorical and Literary Devices: Matter?")

This document lists and defines 25 principal rhetorical and literary devices used in Latin literature, including alliteration, anaphora, asyndeton, chiasmus, ellipsis, hendiadys, hyperbole, hysteron proteron, litotes, metaphor, metonymy, onomatopoeia, oxymoron, personification, pleonasm, polysyndeton, prolepsis, simile, synecdoche, tmesis, tricolon crescens, and zeugma. Each device is briefly defined through a Latin example.

Uploaded by

Samuel Kodjoe
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Principal Rhetorical and Literary Devices

1. Alliteration: repetition of the same letter at beginning of words or syllables:


Marcus me momordit.

2. Anaphora: the repetition of a word or phrase for emphasis:


non feram, non sinam, non patiar

3. Anastrophe: inversion of usual word order (e.g., preposition after the word it governs):
te propter vivo (instead of the expected propter te vivo)

4. Aposiopesis: breaking off in the middle of a sentence :


quem ego . . . sed non possum pergere. ("Whom I . . . but I cannot go on.")

5. Apostrophe: addressing a person who is not present:


O maiores, quid diceretis de hac re? ("Oh ancestors, what would you say about this matter?")

6. Asyndeton: omission of conjunctions:


videt, sentit, scit.

7. Chiasmus: "a-b-b-a" arrangement of words:


magnas urbes oppida parva (adjective, noun, noun, adjective)

8. Ellipsis: omission of words:


Dixit me inventum. ("He said I had been found." esse is missing).

9. Hendiadys: use of two nouns together to express a noun modified by an adjective:


luctus et labor (meaning "grievous toil")

10. Hyperbole: exaggeration.


Catilina est mons vitiorum. ("Catiline is a mountain of vices.")

11. Hysteron proteron: placing first what the reader might expect to come last
mortuus est et hostem inruit ("He died and he rushed against the enemy")

12. Litotes: use of a negative to express a strong positive


Haud stultus erat Cicero. ("Cicero was very intelligent").

13. Metaphor: expression of meaning through an image


Horatius est lux litterarum Latinarum. ("Horace is the light of Latin literature.")

14. Metonymy: substitution of one word for another that it suggests


Neptunus me terret (to mean, "the sea frightens me").

15. Onomatopoeia: use of words that sound like their meaning


Murmurant multi (the "m"s produce the sound of murmuring).

16. Oxymoron: use of an apparent contradiction


parvum monstrum

17. Personification: attribution of human characteristics to something not human


Ipsa saxa dolent. ("The rocks themselves grieve")

18. Pleonasm: use of superfluous words


Oculis me videt. ("She sees me with her eyes.")

19. Polysyndeton: use of many conjunctions


et videt et sentit et scit

20. Prolepsis (anticipation): use of a word sooner than it would logically appear submersis obruit puppis ("he overwhelms the sunken ships"). 21. Simile: comparison using a word like sicut, similis, or velut.
Volat sicut avis. ("He flies like a bird.")

22. Synecdoche: use of part to express a whole


Prora in portam navigavit. ("The ship sailed into the harbor." prora [prow] for navis [ship]).

23. Tmesis: the separation of a compound word into two parts


saxo cere comminuit brum (for saxo cerebrum comminuit: "He smashed with a rock."). his brain

24. Tricolon crescens (ascending tricolon): combination of three elements, increasing in size
non ferar, non patiar, non tolerabo

25. Zeugma: use of one word in two different senses simultaneously


Aeneas tulit dolorem et patrem Troia. (Aeneas carried grief and his father from Troy).

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