Latin poetry is a world of strict rules and creative brilliance. Unlike modern free verse, classical Latin poets worked within tightly defined structures - metre, rhetorical devices, and conventions that shaped everything from epic to love elegy. This guide breaks down the essential terms and techniques you’ll encounter.
Metre: The Backbone of Latin Poetry
Latin poetry relies on quantitative metre, where syllable length (not stress) determines rhythm. The most common metres include:
- Dactylic Hexameter: The metre of epic poetry (e.g., Virgil’s Aeneid). A line consists of six feet, each a dactyl (long-short-short) or spondee (long-long).
- Elegiac Couplet: A hexameter followed by a pentameter, used in love poetry (e.g., Ovid’s Amores).
- Sapphic Stanza: Three lines of eleven syllables and a shorter fourth, used by Horace.
Elision
/ɪˈlɪʒən/Rhetorical Devices
Latin poets used rhetorical flourishes to add depth and musicality. Key devices include:
| Term | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Chiasmus | ABBA word order (e.g., adjective-noun-noun-adjective) | aurum et opes → opes et aurum |
| Golden Line | A specific, highly balanced line structure (adjective-adjective-verb-noun-noun) | aurea purpuream subnectit fibula vestem (Virgil) |
| Hyperbaton | Deliberate disruption of word order for emphasis | saxa vocant Itali mediis quae in fluctibus aras (Virgil) |
Poetic Diction
Latin poets often used archaic or elevated vocabulary. For example, Neptune might be called Neptunus in prose but aequoreus rector (“sea-ruler”) in poetry. This echoes Greek epic conventions, as discussed in our article on Homeric Greek and Latin.
Further Reading
For more on Latin’s influence, see our guides to Latin in medicine and legal terms still used today.
