Word Order and Expressiveness in the "Aeneid"

When can word order be considered expressive? And what we do mean by expressiveness? This work, based upon a statistical and stylistical enquiry into Virgil's Aeneid as well of other hexametric poetry, aims to answer these questions from an appropriate perspective. Through offering a detailed analysis of selected passages, the author stresses the evident recurrence of the same figures in similar contexts and with the same stylistic effects. In this view, a rare word order as well as a relevant metrical and syntactical pattern appear to constitute a deviation from the norm stylistically motivated, that can highlight significant words or iconically stress the semantics of a passage. By combining the main notes on style from the Aeneid commentaries and the stylistic readings also applied to modern texts, the author, with a clear approach, systematically discusses the various structures of Latin hexameter enjambement, synaloepha, hiatus, four-word lines, name-lines, relevant juxtapositions etc. in terms of effects, showing how they interact and converge in the text. This introduction to Virgil's expressiveness aims to be an effective tool for a stylistic reading of any Latin hexametric text.

Auteur

Paolo Dainotti, Università di Salerno, Italy.

Texte du rabat

When can word order be considered expressive? And what we do mean by ?expressiveness?? This work, based upon a statistical and stylistical enquiry into Virgil's Aeneid as well of other hexametric poetry, aims to answer these questions from an appropriate perspective.

Through offering a detailed analysis of selected passages, the author stresses the evident recurrence of the same figures in similar contexts and with the same stylistic effects. In this view, a rare word order as well as a relevant metrical and syntactical pattern appear to constitute a deviation from the norm stylistically motivated, that can highlight significant words or iconically stress the semantics of a passage. By combining the main notes on style from the Aeneid commentaries and the stylistic readings also applied to modern texts, the author, with a clear approach, systematically discusses the various structures of Latin hexameter ? enjambement, synaloepha, hiatus, four-word lines, name-lines, relevant juxtapositions etc. ? in terms of ?effects?, showing how they interact and converge in the text. This introduction to Virgil's expressiveness aims to be an effective tool for a stylistic reading of any Latin hexametric text.

Résumé

"P. Dainottis Untersuchung ist eine beeindruckende Analyse, die viel Material aus der Aeneis unter dem Thema der Expressivität auswertet und schlüssig deutet. Sie verdient es, intensiv rezipiert zu werden, auch außerhalb der Vergil-Forschung und ebenso von Linguisten, die mit einem pragmatischen Wortstellungsansatz arbeiten."
Roland Hoffmann in: Gymnasium 124.4 (2017), pp. 403-405

"Dainotti provides an invaluable reminder of what poetry is, and demonstrates the expressive power of Latin in particular in the hands of the Master. It is to be hoped that the appearance of this book in a clear and idiomatic English translation will help it continue to find the audience it so richly deserves."
K. F. B. Fletcher in: Gnomon, Band 89 (2017), Heft 3, pp. 271-273

"In short, Paolo Dainotti is to be commended for a marvelous addition to the Virgilian bibliography."
Lee Fratantuono in: BMCR 2016.05.42