Figures of Speech Flashcards
A(n) ___ is a metaphor extended beyond a simple word or phrase and maintained throughout a whole clause or passage.
Allegory
A(n) ___ is the repetition of a word, generally at the beginning, within successive clauses.
“tu mihi, quodcumque hoc regni, tu sceptra Iovemque concilias, tu das epulis accumbere divum, nimborumque facis tempestatumque potentem.”
Anaphora
___ is placing a preposition after its object.
“Namque videbat, uti bellantes Pergama circum”
Anastrophe
A(n) ___ is an abrupt failure to complete a sentence.
“Quos ego…!”
Aposiopesis
A(n) ___ is to talk to someone or something which is not there.
“O ter quaterque beati…”
Apostrophe
___ is the omission of conjunctions in a series.
“Navem in conspectu nullam, tres litore cervos prospicit errantis.”
Asyndeton
___ is ABBA word order.
“spem … simulat, premet … dolorem”
Chiasmus
A(n) ___ is a detailed description of a natural scene or a work of artistry.
Ecphrasis
A(n) ___ is any omission of words easily understood from the context.
“Haec secum (dixit) … “
Ellipsis
A(n) ___ is when closely related words are split between one line and the next.
“quamquam animus meminisse horret luctuque refugit, incipiam.”
Enjambment
A(n) ___ is the expression of a complex idea by joining two nouns with a conjunction, where one would expect a noun-adjective phrase.
“molemque at montes … “
“mass and mountains” i.e. massive mountains
“cavernas uterumque”
“the hollows and the belly” i.e. the hollow belly
Hendiadys
A(n) ___ is a generic term for any violation in the normal arrangement of words, but generally used to describe the wide separation of two words which belong together logically, such as a noun and its adjective.
” … et laxas sciret dare iussus habenas”
“… and he would know how to give loose reigns, having been commanded.”
Hyperbaton
A(n) ___ is a rhetorical exaggeration.
Hyperbole
___ is reversing the natural, sequential order of words or phrases.
“Moriamur, et in media arma ruamus”
“Let us die, and let us rush into arms.”
Hysteron Proteron
___ is expressing one thing by denying its opposite, often effecting an understatement.
“non simili poena”
“By a dissimilar penalty” i.e. by a harsher one
“haud aliter”
“Not otherwise” i.e. in exactly the same way
Litotes
___ is the substitution of one word for another because of some external connection or dependence between them.
“Cererem corruptam undis”
“Ceres, ruined by the waves” i.e. soggy bread
Metonymy
___ is the ornamental or emphatic use of redundancy or periphrasis, or saying many words that could be said in few.
“multa quoque et bello passus”
“having suffered many things also even in war”
Pleonasm
___ is the repetition of the same word in various inflectional forms.
“solus ego in Pallanta feror, soli mihi Pallas debetur”
“I alone am offered to Pallas, to me alone Pallas is owed”
Polyptoton
A(n) ___ is the use of more conjunctions than necessary.
“Eurusque Notusque ruunt creberque”
Polysyndeton
___ is emphasis achieved by feigned omission, i.e., by noting that it will not or need not be mentioned.
“… quid bella Tyro surgentia dicam germanique minas?”
“Why should I mention the wars arising from Tyre, and the threats of your brother?”
Praeteritio
___ is putting on the mask of another, i.e., speaking as another person, usually a dead one, to teach a moral lesson.
Prosopopoeia
___ is interlocking word order, i.e., ABAB structure.
“saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram”
“on account of fierce Juno’s mindful wrath”
Synchysis
A(n) ___ is a change of terms, arising from the internal nature of a subject: the whole for a part, a part for the whole, etc.
“ipsius ante oculos ingens a vertice pontus in puppim ferit …”
“Before the eyes of the man himself (i.e. Aeneas), the massive sea (i.e. a huge wave) from high above strikes the deck.”
Synecdoche
___ is the separation of the parts of a compound word.
“et multo nebulae circum dea fundit amictu.”
“And the goddess surrounded (them) with a robe of mist.”
Tmesis
A(n) ___ is when a term which properly describes one person is attributed to another person or thing with which it is connected.
“conveniunt, quibus aut odium crudele tyranni aut metus acer erat.”
“They came together, those for whom there was cruel hatred or bitter fear of the tyrant.”
Transferred Epithet
A(n) ___ is a series of three connected phrases or clauses, often increasing in length, and often accompanied by anaphora or asyndeton.
“(1) nec te noster amor (2) nec to data dextera quondam (3) nec moritura tenet crudeli funere Dido?”
Tricolon Crescenda
A(n) ___ is the use of one verb with two objects in two distinct senses.
“inclusos utero Danaos et pinea furtim laxat claustra Sinon …”
“Sinon secretly released the enclosed Greeks and loosened the pine bolts.”
Zeugma
