Studi e ricerche

Series | Studi e ricerche
Edited book | Nomina sunt...?
Chapter | Nomi propri e lusus retorici nella poesia centonaria

Nomi propri e lusus retorici nella poesia centonaria

Abstract

Considered for a long time as mere literary works and school products, based on both compositional skills and memory rather than on poetical inspiration, centos were composed by a grammaticus or scholasticus, who used to put together hemistiches excerpted from Virgil’s works, combining them as in a patchwork, in order to forge a composition that had to be original in terms of content, but expressed, as much as possible, only through Virgilian verses. This paper offers an insight of onomastic techniques, such as the figures of speech of paronomasia, periphrasis and antonomasia, in three mythological and secular Virgilian centos from the Anthologia Latina, presumably composed in Africa between 200 and 534: Hosidius Geta’s Medea, Luxurius’ Epithalamium Fridi and Alcesta.


Open access

Submitted: Oct. 6, 2016 | Language: it

Keywords Virgilian centosOnomastic techniquesAnthologia Latina


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