Repetition in Latin poetry : figures of allusion /

Wills (Univ. of Wisconsin) collects and discusses instances of verbal and syntactic repetition in Latin poetry both within texts (stylistics, self-imitation) and between texts (allusion). Chapters 2 to 21 catalog and organize examples under the rubrics of gemination (chapters 1-5), polyptoton (6-9), modification (10-15), parallelism (16-18), and general topics such as positional patterns (19), repetition in compounds (20), and variation of repetends (21). The first four of these sections begin with a review of the ancient name(s) for the figure under discussion, briefly contextualizing the poetic examples within ancient theoretical theory. This collection of material will be invaluable for scholars interested in stylistics, allusion, generic intertextuality, the reception of Hellenistic Greek poetry, and much else in Latin poetry. The first chapter, an introduction to the formal features of allusion, offers an exciting demonstration of the sophisticated analysis of allusion that Wills's careful collection warrants. The most innovative part of the project is the author's interest in sound allusion. Indispensable to all specialists in Latin literature, upper-division undergraduates through faculty. A. M. Keith; University of Toronto