Repetition in Latin Poetry: Figures of Allusion

by Jeffrey Wills

Overview

The first comprehensive treatment of Latin figures of repetition, this poetic handbook includes over ten thousand quotations from Ennius to Juvenal, with numerous examples From Latin prose and Greek literature for comparison. Long relegated to commentary notes, the figures of gemination, epanalepsis, polyptoton, and anaphora, for example, are finally treated systematically as distinct stylistic markers. Under each topic, Jeffrey Wills studies extensively the authorial preferences and traditions of the various genres, with figures arising from the positional and framing structures of repetitions collected at the end. A section on formal means of allusion and the special attention given throughout the book to the use of figures for intertextual reference also makes the work a major contribution to the Latin poetics of allusion. Literary critics, textual critics, and commentators should all find this volume indispensable.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198140849
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	08/28/2001
Pages:	528
Product dimensions:	6.44(w) x 9.50(h) x 1.31(d)

Table of Contents

	Abbreviations	xii
	Introduction	1
1.	Formal Features of Allusion	15
1.1.	Linguistic Features of Reference	18
1.2.	Learning a Grammar of Allusion	24
1.3.	A Case Study in Allusive Figures: populus Priami Priamusque	33
Part I.	Gemination	43
	Gemination	45
2.	Simple Gemination (Nominal Forms)	50
2.1.	Vocatives	50
2.2.	Exclamations and Revelations	58
2.3.	Other Nominal Forms	65
2.4.	Pronouns	76
3.	Simple Gemination (Verbs and Adverbs)	89
3.1.	Imperatives	89
3.2.	Other Verbal Forms	102
3.3.	Adverbs and Interjections	106
4.	Expanded Gemination (Nominal Forms)	124
4.1.	Greek Poetry	125
4.2.	The Impact of Catullus	130
4.3.	Virgil	145
4.4.	Other Augustan Poets and the Appendix Vergiliana	159
4.5.	Silver Latin	167
5.	Expanded Gemination (Verbs, Phrases, and Pairs)	174
5.1.	Verb-Expansion	174
5.2.	Phrase-Expansion	178
5.3.	Expanded Pairs	182
Part II.	Polyptoton	188
	Polyptoton	189
6.	Noun Polyptoton	191
6.1.	Battle Polyptoton	194
6.2.	Amorous and Fraternal Polyptoton	202
6.3.	Authorial Practices	207
7.	Adjective, Derivative, and Pronoun Polyptoton	222
7.1.	Adjectives by Author	225
7.2.	Adjectival Gradation	231
7.3.	Derivatives	238
7.4.	Pronouns	241
8.	Verb Polyptoton	243
8.1.	Figura etymologica	243
8.2.	Reinforcement and Reversal	248
9.	Co-ordinated Polyptoton	254
9.1.	Genitival Subordination	254
9.2.	Other Types of Subordination	261
9.3.	Pronominal Pairings	264
Part III.	Modification	269
	Modification	271
10.	Noun-Shifts	272
10.1.	Case-Interchange	272
10.2.	Gender Combinations	279
10.3.	Triplets and Other Multiples	285
11.	Verb-Shifts	290
11.1.	Person, Number, and Voice	290
11.2.	Tense and Mood	298
12.	Category-Shifts	311
12.1.	Participial Resumption	311
12.2.	Nouns, Verbs, Gerunds, and Gerundives	325
13.	Climax	329
14.	Parentheses and Asides	337
15.	Responses, Echoes, and Similes	342
Part IV.	Parallelism	351
	Parallelism	353
16.	Allusive Anaphora	354
16.1.	Quadruplets, Triplets, and the Pathetic Fallacy	357
16.2.	Hymnic tu	361
17.	Multiple Anaphora in the Same Line	363
18.	Repeated -que	372
18.1.	Pairs	372
18.2.	Multiples	377
18.3.	Pairs of Pairs	383
Part V.	General Topics	387
19.	Positional Patterns	389
19.1.	Adjacency	390
19.2.	Adjacency across Lines (6/1)	394
19.3.	Line-Initial Anaphora (1/1)	397
19.4.	Parallel Half-Lines	414
19.5.	Line-Final Repetition	418
19.6.	Framing Patterns	426
20.	Repetition in Compounds	436
20.1.	Compound and Simplex	438
20.2.	Simplex and Compound	443
20.3.	Positive and Negative Pairs	451
21.	Variations of Repetends	461
21.1.	Prosodic Variation	461
21.2.	Semantic Variation	469
	Epilogue: Unfigured Repetition	473
	Index Locorum	479
	Index Rerum	504

Editorial Reviews

"[Repetition in Latin Poetry] offers convincing arguments for the allusive potential of various formal structures of language. Because it is well grounded in linguistic and literary theory, it is sure to become the standard work on the topic."—Religious Studies Review

From the Publisher