MET: Lesson - Grammar - Poetic Devices

Poetic Devices

When writing poetry, there are several ways to increase the imagery and message in poetry. These methods are called poetic devices, and similar to the rhetorical devices used by orators, these tools were readily available to poets to assist in their poetry. The end goal is to create a strong figurative image for the reader of the poem, but some of these devices were also available to help the poet fit the meter they were using for the poem. 

Common Poetic Devices

Much like speeches, which could include several rhetorical devices in a single line, poems often utilize multiple poetic devices at once. Below is a list of some (though not all) the devices a young Roman poet would learn when studying the great Greek and Latin poets. Examples are provided, often in both Latin and English, to be clear about how they are being used.

Common Poetic Devices

Device

Definition

Examples

ellipsis

when a word could be used more than once, one instance is omitted

I saw a boy with a brown shoe on one foot, but white on the other.

(The line, without ellipsis, would be: but a white shoe on the other foot)

antithesis

use of paired opposites to create contrast

For me, the rain is nice, but storms cause nothing but terror for you. (me vs. you)

While the woman burned with passion, the boy was stirred by nothing but a chill breeze.
transferred epithet

a description that has been transferred from the word to which it strictly belongs to another word connected with it in thought

In Book I, line 4 of the Aeneid Vergil says:

saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram

on account of the remembering anger of cruel Juno.

It is Juno who remembers, not the anger. 
synchysis

interlocking word order (ABAB)

saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram

saevae is describing Iunonis, while memorem is describing iram:

saevae (A) memorem (B) Iunonis (A) ob iram (B)

 
chiasmus

criss-cross word order (ABBA). We also met this use in the rhetorical devices section.

When winter comes, also comes the cold.

winter (A) comes (B), comes (B) the cold (A)

A friend today, tomorrow an enemy.

friend (A) today (B), tomorrow (B) enemy (A)
bracketing

a specific type of ABBA order, using noun-adjective pairs. One noun-adjective pair surrounds the other. Note the similarity to chiasmus - bracketing is for noun-adjective pairs, while chiasmus is for grammatical criss-crossing.

in medios venit iuvenis fortissimus hostes

a very brave young man came into the middle of the enemy.

in medios (A) iuvenis (B) fortissimus (B) hostes (A)

medios modifies hostes; this encloses iuvenis fortissimus just as the enemy surrounds the young man.
simile an explicit comparison between two dissimilar things, using like or as

He eats like a bird.

Latin often uses the adjective sicut, quasi or quam for comparison.

...cruor emicat alte, non aliter quam cum...plumbo scinditur

...blood shoots forth high in the air, not altogether unlike when a pipe is cut open

Latin can also use the adjective similis + dative to refer to something being "similar to" another thing:

Hoc spatium est simile muro.

This distance is similar to a wall.

epic simile

an extended simile, which acts as a digression from the main narrative

Sometimes called a Homeric simile after its frequent use in Homer's epic poems, it was also used by Vergil, Milton, and others in their literary epics. 

Usually it compares one complex action (rather than a simple quality or thing) with another: for example:

the approach of an army with the onset of storm‐clouds.

In Latin they are often introduced by velut, veluti, and qualis.

syncope

 a verbal contraction

o'er (for over)

Latin: -ere in place of the ending -erunt for 3rd plural, perfect:

amavere (for amaverunt)

foreshadowing

providing a hint of upcoming action within the narrative

The author plays on common beliefs or causal connections that most readers will have some direct experience with, thereby causing them to anticipate a specific chain of events.

Expressions: I can't live with this knowledge (foreshadowing a possible tragic suicide)

Symbols: the use of symbolism can point to future events. Laocoon and his two sons being attacked by snakes in Vergil's Aeneid foreshadow the fall of Troy. (In that instance, the Trojans misread the symbolism, thinking the gods attacked Laocoon for lying, when he was in fact telling the truth.)

Prophesy: Cassandra, in the Homeric epics, predicted the fall of Troy to any who would listen (she was cursed to know the future, but to never be believed).