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arma virumque cano

Latin Phrases
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

I sing of arms and the man; the opening words of Virgil's Aeneid, announcing the epic subject of war and heroism.

Detailed Definition
Arma virumque cano is the most famous opening in Latin epic poetry, establishing the dual subject of martial action and individual heroism. In poetry, it has become a touchstone for the epic tradition and is frequently echoed, parodied, or inverted by subsequent poets establishing their own subjects. It announces the ambition of the poet, the grandeur of the theme, and the formal register of epic verse, making it one of the most resonant phrases in all of Western literature.
Example
Example in poetry:
Every student of Latin poetry encounters arma virumque cano as the gateway to the epic tradition — Virgil's opening words establish the template for announcing grand poetic ambitions; Christopher Marlowe's "Tamburlaine" implicitly echoes arma virumque cano — arms and the man translated into Elizabethan ambition and the drama of world-conquest; George Bernard Shaw's play Arms and the Man takes its title from arma virumque cano and subjects the epic glamorization of war to comic deflation; A student writing an epic parody might open with arma virumque cano deliberately, announcing mock-heroic intentions through the appropriation of Virgil's most famous phrase; Ezra Pound's Cantos open with a translation of Homer but constantly echo Virgilian epic; modern poets who begin with arma virumque cano are positioning themselves within and against this entire tradition
Additional Notes
Arma virumque cano is perhaps the single most imitated and parodied opening in Western literature. The phrase announces not just a subject but an entire literary program: arma (arms, war) and virum (a man, a hero) establish the epic's double focus on the collective martial enterprise and the individual hero, while cano (I sing) asserts the poet's role as inspired singer rather than mere narrator. Students should note that Virgil's choice to begin with the word arma (arms) rather than with the hero's name — as Homer begins the Iliad with "wrath" (menis) and the Odyssey with "man" (andra) — signals his particular interest in the collective, Roman dimension of the story. The poem's first word frames the entire epic. Studying how subsequent poets have echoed, adapted, or parodied this opening is an excellent exercise in understanding the weight of literary inheritance.
Also Known As
I sing of arms and the man arms and the man opening of the Aeneid
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