Latin Poetry Terms

alliteration
repetition of the same sound, usually a consonant, at the beginning of two or more adjacent words to draw the reader’s attention to those two words

allusion
a brief reference to details the writer expects the reader to recognize; may be proper nouns (EX: references to customs, geography, history, mythology, etc.)

anaphora
repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive clauses or phrases

apostrophe
a sudden break in the narrative to address the reader or an absent person or thing; often indicates strong emotion

assonance
repetition of sound, especially of the same vowel sound, in two or more adjacent words

asyndeton
omission of customary connecting words to express lively action, tense excitement, or choking grief

connotation
the cluster of implicit or associated meanings of a word as distinguished from that word’s denotative or specific meaning

elipsis
omission of word(s) necessary for the grammatical structure of a sentence or clause to give greater brevity, compactness, and force

euphimism
using pleasant expression to replace an unpleasant one

antithesis
the opposition of qualities/ideas (EX: black and white)

chiasmus
a criss-cross arrangement (ABBA)

first word and last word positions
placing an important word at the first and last places in a line of poetry

framing
a word placed out of its usual order so that it is framed or centered

interlocking word order/synchysis
the words of one noun-adjective phrase alternating with those of another (ABAB)

juxtaposition
two words or phrases set side by side to intensify meaning

parallelism/balanced structure
the recurrence or repetition of a grammatical pattern

separation
separating grammatically related words to produce a word picture of the meaning conveyed by the words (EX: noun-noun; noun-adjective)