Topicos Literarios Flashcards
Locus Amoenus
“Pleasant Place”
- Paradise cliche, occasionally tinged with melancholy
- Description of nature as full of harmony, plenitude and beauty.
Aura Mediocritas
“Golden Medium”
Praise of modern, simple life and moderate happiness using renunciation of wealth or power
Carpe Diem
“Seize the Day”
An invitation to live, even though life is short and we die, it is still wonderful (positive nihilism)
Collige Virgo Rosas
‘Take the roses, girl’
Advice to a girl to take advantage of her youth, because like lush roses, beauty is ephemeral
Tempus Fugit
‘Time flies’
Life is fleeting, often referencing clocks
Vida Flumen
‘Life is a river’
the rivers of our lives flow into the sea of death
Ubi Sunt?
‘Where are they?’
Rhetoric questions about historical figures and buildings made to last but have faded to traces of memory
Vanitas Vanitatum o Vanitas Vanitatis
‘Vanity of vanities’
insists on the inanity and expiration of the things after life, even ones such as wisdom, since they are only smoke
Omnia Vincit Amor
‘Love will find a way’
expression that grants love passion the capacity to go beyond human limits, overcoming all difficulties
Descriptio Puella
‘Description of a girl’
describes a detailed and stereotyped portrait of a beautiful young woman, often matching the parts of her anatomy with precious elements of nature: gold in her hair, carnation in her lips, pearls in her teeth…
