allegory: extended metaphor; narrative where abstract ideas are expressed as circumstances or characters
Effect: adds interest, teaches moral lesson, explains abstract via concrete
English: Aesop's Fables, Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm
Latin: story of Rumor (IV. 173-197)
alliteration: repetition of the same consonant sound, usually at the beginning of 2 or more successive words.
Effect: emphasis, enlivens it, creates sounds
English: "Let us go forth to lead the land we love." -JFK
Latin: "magno cum murmure montis" (I. 55)
anaphora: repetition of a word(s) at the beginning of successive phrases/clauses
Effect: emphasizes particular concept - thing that is repeated is important
English: Beatitudes ("Blessed are the...") - Bible
Latin: "Tu..., tu..., tu..." (I. 78-79)
aposiopesis: an abrupt break in a sentence; an unfinished thought - usually the speaker is overwhelmed with emotion
Effect: to create dramatic energy
English: "what the- "
Latin: "Quos ego- sed motos..." (I. 135)
apostrophe: a "turning away" from one addressee to another (often absent)
Effect: shows emotion, draws reader into situation
English: "Judge, ye gods, how Caesar loved him." -Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
Latin: "O patria, o divum domus Ilium" (II. 241)
asyndeton: the omission of connecting words
Effect: accelerates, shows nonstop action
English: "We cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground." -Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
Latin: "ubi ingens sarpedon, ubi tot Simois,..." (I. 99)
chiasmus: criss-cross patter of words, usually nouns/adjectives in ABBA arrangement
Effect: to create contrast
English: "Fair is foul and foul is fair." - Macbeth
Latin: "steterunt comae et vox...haesit." "his hair stood up and his voice clung..." (II. 774)
ecphrasis: a digression vividly describing a place, object, or event
Effect: often a transition to new scene or concept; adds vividness, interest
English: Ode on a Grecian Urn - Keats
Latin: Catullus 64, description of harbor (I. 159-169)
ellipses: omission of easily understood or assumed word
Effect: to accelerate narrative, avoids repetition
English: "..."
Latin: "Aeolus haec contra (dixit)" (I.76)
enjambment: postponing to next line a significant word/s related to previous line
Effect: suspense
English: "All the AP Latin class fail at | life. I love enjambment."
Latin: "litora...|vi superum..." (I. 3-4)
hendiadys: the use of 2 nouns connected by a conjunction and having idea of single noun (2 for 1)
Effect: amplifies idea, adds force
English: "the kingdom, the power, and the glory" -Bible; "the sound and the fury" -Shakespeare/Faulkner
Latin: "molemque et montes" (I. 61)
hyperbaton: significant distortion of normal word order; separation of word that normally belong together
Effect: emphasize the first of a separated pair; create image
English: Yoda; "Why should their liberty than ours be more?" - Shakespeare
Latin: "tantae animis caelestibus irae?" (I. 11)
hyperbole: exaggeration for emphasis or rhetorical effect; overstatement
Effect: stress importance/gravity of a situation
English: "...a million ____"
Latin: "fluctus ad sidera tollit" (I. 103), "aqae mons" (I. 105)
hysteron proteron: the reversal of normal or expected or sequence of events to put the more important idea first
Effect: emphasizes particular idea, stresses result
English: shoes and socks; lock and load
Latin: "fatisque...Sinon" (II. 257-259: he releases the Greeks and the bolts)
irony: expression of something contrary to what is intended
Effect: add humor, sarcasm
English: "Brutus is an honorable man." -Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
Latin: "scilicet in superis labor est" (IV. 379)
litotes: understatement/double negative
Effect: emphasis
English: "not a bad ___" "I kid you not"
Latin: "non simili poena" (I.136)
metaphor: implied comparison made through figurative use of words that suggest likeness between 2 things
Effect: creates interest, explains unfamiliar by way of familiar
English: "all the world's a stage" -Shakespeare
Latin: Dido's "wound" of love
metonymy: use of one noun for another which it suggests
Effect: creates variety, avoids commonplace terms, expresses abstract through concrete
English: "The White House reported today..." "The pen is mightier than the sword."
Latin: "arma virumque cano" (I. 1), Bacchus = wine, Ceres = grain
onomatopoeia: poetic use of a word whose sound suggests its meaning (often with alliteration)
Effect: creates more interest, reinforces meaning of word
English: buzz, hiss, murmur, swish, quack
Latin: "magno cum murmure montis" (I. 55) "femineo ululatu" (IV. 667)
oxymoron: juxtaposition of opposite or contradictory words in same phrase
Effect: creates surprise, curiosity
English: pretty ugly; jumbo shrimp; definite maybe; uninvited guest;
Latin: "festina lente" = "make haste slowly" -Augustus
personification: attribution of human qualities to animals, inanimate objects, concepts
Effect: stimulates imagination, creates vividness, makes abstract concrete
English: "mother nature"
Latin: "Rumor suadent cadentia sidera somnos" (II. 9)
pleonasm: use of redundant, unnecessary, or superfluous words
Effect: reinforces something, clarifies
English: PIN number; I saw it with my own eyes; ATM machine; I wept tears of joy;
Latin: "sic ore effeata" = "thus having spoken with his mouth" (I. 524)
polysyndeton: use of more conjunctions than needed
Effect: produces a 'cumulative' effect
English: "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!"
Latin: "spemque metumque inter" (I.218)
polyptoton: repetition of word in different (grammatical) forms
Effect: clarifies, adds interest
English: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
Latin: "amant amantur" -Catullus
prolepsis: speaking of something in the future as if it's already done; anticipation
Effect: prioritizes later action/result
English: antebellum home
Latin: "summersas obrue puppes" (I. 69)
simile: expressed comparison using "like" or "as"
Effect: describe the unfamiliar with the familiar
English: "light as a feather" (+ hyperbole)
Latin: Neptune simile
synecdoche: a type of metonymy; use of a part of something to describe the whole
Effect: creates variety, emphasizes important feature of noun
English: threads = clothing, wheels = car, shades = sunglasses
Latin: "tecti" = roofs = houses, "puppes" = decks = ships
synchysis: interlocking word order - one word of a pair is placed between words of another pair: ABAB order
Effect: create variety, emphasize association of pairs
English: Abraham George Lincoln Washington
Latin: "saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram" "mindful anger of savage Juno
tmesis: the separation of parts of compound verb by one/more intervening words
Effect: stress enclosed words, create picture (splitting, surrounding, ...)
English: a-whole-nother; abso-bloody-lutely; Massa-freaking-chusetts
Latin: "circum dea fudit" (I. 412)
transferred epithet: an adjective that grammatically agrees with one noun, but is placed close to, and shares meaning with another noun
Effect: reinforces, emphasizes
English: "the weary journey"
Latin: "mare velivolum" (I. 24)
tricolon crescens: use of three closely connected descriptive elements, increasing in size and emphasis (often with anaphora)
Effect: builds intensity, excitement
English: "of the people, by the people, for the people" - Lincoln
Latin: "nec...amor, nec...quondam, nec...Dido" (IV. 307-308)
zeugma: the use of one part of speech (usually verb) with two words, when it can really only be applied to one of them
Effect: condenses
English: "The gentlemen and his driver's license expired." "You held your breath and the door for me."
Latin: "fatisque...Sinon" (II. 257)