Key topics: Vergil, Aeneid 1.1–33 (proem: invocation of the Muse, statement of themes — pietas, fate, Juno's anger), Vergil, Aeneid 1.418–440 and 1.494–578 (Aeneas observes the Carthaginian murals; Dido and the Trojans), Vergil, Aeneid 2.40–56 (Laocoon warns the Trojans about the horse), Vergil, Aeneid 2.201–249 (death of Laocoon and his sons; Trojans drag the horse inside), Vergil, Aeneid 2.268–297 (the ghost of Hector appears to Aeneas), Vergil, Aeneid 2.559–620 (Aeneas sees Priam's death; prepares to flee), Dactylic hexameter: scansion (long/short syllables, spondees vs. dactyls), elision, caesura, diaeresis, Poetic diction and word order: hyperbaton, synchysis (interlocked word order), tmesis, enjambment, Rhetorical and literary devices: chiasmus, anaphora, alliteration, assonance, litotes, simile, Vergil's themes: pietas (duty to gods, family, Rome), fatum (fate), furor (destructive passion) vs. pietas, Narrative craft: the embedded narrator (Aeneas recounting Troy's fall to Dido in Books 1–2).
Study guide content for this unit is being prepared. Check back soon for complete lesson notes, formula sheets, and worked examples.
