Virgil's Georgics: Lines 457-484 Notes Flashcards
What is the effect of ‘illa quidem’?
Changes the subject and provides emphasis
Who is the focus moving towards in this section?
From Orpheus to Eurydice
What is the effect of the subjunctive ‘fugeret’?
Implies purpose
What is the technique of giving inanimate objects human qualities?
Pathetic fallacy
Where is pathetic fallacy seen here?
Lines 461-3
What reinforces the pathetic fallacy?
Slow spondees and polysyndeton
What was Rhodope and Paneae?
Mountains in Thrace
Who was Rhesus?
A famous Thracian leader who took part in the Trojan war
Who lived in Thrace?
Ares
Where is there a hiatus?
After ‘getae’
What are the techniques in line 463?
Hiatus, no strong caesura after third and fourth foot, polysyllabic words and a spondaic fifth foot
Who were the Getae?
Northern people, associated with Thrace
Who was Orithyia?
Daughter of Erectheus, King of Athens and wife of the north wind
What is Orpheus doing as a solace for his love?
Song or poetry
What techniques are in lines 465-6 and what is the effect?
Spondees, assonance of long ‘e’ sounds, alliteration of ‘t’ and ‘d’, repetition and direct address to Eurydice all heightens the pathos
Give two synonyms for the underworld?
Dis and Erebus
Where was a fabled entrance to the Underworld?
Taenarum in South Greece
What pattern is on line 468?
Chiasmus
What makes the chiasmus more impressive?
Slow movement
What does line 468 allow Virgil to do?
Blend physical and spiritual appearance of the place
The long ‘i’ in ‘ibant’ picks up what?
The long ‘i’s on the previous line shows distance and eeriness
Where else is the simile mentioned?
Aeneid book 6
What twist has Virgil put on the ghost simile?
In the Aeneid, ghosts are first compared to leaves and then birds flying to land but here, they flock into the sky and to the trees for shelter
Lines 475-7 are repeated and used where else?
Aeneid book 6 and Homer’s Odyssey book 11
What is significant about mothers and husbands mentioned?
Relatives they leave behind
What is significant about the unmarried girls?
Have not had the chances of an adult life
What is interesting about ‘magnanimum’?
Only adjective in archaic genitive plural form. Appropriate for describing Rome’s past heroes
What is the tone on line 477?
Extreme pathos and tragedy - not Homeric
What is Cocytus?
The river of lamentation in the underworld
What two things in the underworld are called Styx?
A river and where all the rivers converge at a marsh
What is Tartarus?
Deepest pit of hell but can be used generally
What is personified?
‘Letus’
What are the Furies?
Bringers of doom
What links to Cerberus can be made here?
Often placated by music
Who is Ixion and what is his story?
Son of Ares or Phlegyas, king of Lapiths he murdered his father in law. He found no one to purify him until Zeus did but in Olympus, he seduced Zeus’ wife, Hera so Zeus bound him on a wheel of fire that rolled unceasingly through the underworld
What does the strange word order of line 457-8 suggest?
A sense of panic
What is significant about ‘non vidit’?
It is literally hiding in the middle of the sentence
What is there anaphora of?
‘Te’
What is apostrophe?
Direct address
Where is there an oxymoron?
‘Lucum’ with a dark grove or light
Where else is there polysyndeton?
Line 469 and 475
There is a lexical field of what?
Darkness
Where is a very long sentence?
Line 473-480
What could the bird simile mean?
Fleet around, all gods have birds, being driven by exterior force, lots of them
What happened if anyone looked at Cerberus?
Turned to stone
What is the story of Cerberus and Hercules?
Hercules had to overcome Cerberus who guards the entrance to the underworld and bring him up to Earth without using weapons. He asked Hades’ permission and held Cerberus in a chokehold so he submitted
