Inside This Unit: The Full Breakdown
Unit 4 covers Latin poetry: scanning dactylic hexameter and identifying the devices Vergil uses for effect.
Why it matters
Scansion and device identification are tested directly on the poetry portions.
Key concepts
- Dactylic hexameter has six feet (dactyls — ∪ ∪ or spondees — —).
- Elision drops a final vowel before an initial vowel/h.
- Devices: simile, alliteration, anaphora, chiasmus.
Meter and Device
Scan a hexameter line into six feet, marking long/short syllables, elisions, and the caesura. Then connect poetic and rhetorical devices — epic similes, alliteration, anaphora, chiasmus — to meaning and tone, since the exam asks not just to name devices but to explain their effect.
AP exam tip
When asked about a device, always state its effect on meaning or tone, not just its name.
Connections to other units
- Unit 3: Meter and device serve Vergil’s themes.
- Unit 5: Compare Vergil’s verse with Pliny’s prose.
