Pyramus & Thisbe Grammar & Comp

Question 1

Who is iuvenum pulcherrimus? (55)

Answer 1

Pyramus, the most beautiful of all men

Question 1

To whom does quas refer? (56)

Answer 1

All girls, puellis

Question 2

What Latin noun does contiguas modify?

Answer 2

Domos

Question 3

tenuere is a shortened poetic form. What is the full form (in Latin)? Provide another example from lines 55-80 of a shortened poetic form. (57)

Answer 3

Tenuerunt, another example is vetuerunt

Question 4

What Latin noun does altam modify? What are some possible meanings of altam?

Answer 4

Urbem; lofty (famous, like NYC)

Question 5

What did their nearness (vicinia, line 59) produce?

Answer 5

Their love

Question 6

What is the subject of tegitur and aestuat (line 64)? In Latin and English. What adjective modifies this subject?

Answer 6

Their love, “ignis”

Question 7

What is the subject (in Latin and English) of the verbs fissus erat, duxerat, and fieret (lines 65 and 66)?

Answer 7

The common wall

Question 8

How is the rima (line 65) described in Latin and English?

Answer 8

Thin, “tenui”

Question 9

How is the paries (line 66) described in Latin and English?

Answer 9

Common/shared, communis

Question 10

In lines 68-69, Ovid uses second person plural verbs. Who (or what) is he addressing? Why?

Answer 10

He is addressing Pyramus and Thisbe. This is to emphasize that they are special.

Question 11

Who or what is the subject of dicebant (line 73)?

Answer 11

The wall

Question 12

Describe where Pyramus & Thisbe live. What are their houses like? Where are their houses located? What kind of city is it? What would this have meant to the ancient Roman reader?

Answer 12

They live in the Eastern world in adjacent houses in the lofty city of Semiramis. The city is a mystical place and it makes it a good setting for a fairytale.

Question 13

What did their father’s forbid? What were they not able to forbid? What was the effect of this?

Answer 13

Their fathers forbid them from getting married, but couldn’t forbid them from loving each other in their minds. This made their love grow stronger.

Question 14

What is a rima (line 65)? Describe this rima. What was its history?

Answer 14

A crack; it was thin and it was made when the common wall of their houses were built. For a long time it was not known by anyone.

Question 15

What is the effect of the narrator’s sudden shift to second person verbs in lines 68 and 69?

Answer 15

It emphasizes that Pyramus and Thisbe are special, having been the only ones to notice the wall.

Question 16

Describe the iter (line 69). What did it come from? What was it used for?

Answer 16

The iter is what allowed the two lovers to speak to one another, it was a crack from the wall which separated their houses. They used it to communicate.

Question 17

What sounds are alliterated in line 70? What is the effect of this alliteration in terms of the themes of the poem?

Answer 17

M and s sound, this imitates the sound of murmuring and whispers, which would be Pyramus and Thisbe speaking to each other.

Question 18

What is Ovid imagining in lines 73-77? Be specific.

Answer 18

Ovid is imagining that the wall isn’t there and the two being able to have their whole bodies be joined and to kiss.

Question 19

How is the word order in line 78 a perfect construct for the situation described?

Answer 19

Emphasis, things are jumbled up and are not working for them. The ABBA word order is a way of showing this.

Question 20

What is the definition of chiasmus? What is the definition of interlocked word order? How are they similar? How are they dissimilar? What effect do they have on the text?

Answer 20

Chiasmus is ABBA word order where the words match in an inner and outer pair. Interlocked word order is ABAB. They are similar in the sense that they use matching endings in pairs to create some sort of purposeful effect or image. They are different word orders.