Aeneid

This passage is the original Latin from Vergil's Aeneid:
Stetit acer in armis
Aeneas volvens oculos dextramque repressit;
et iam iamque magis cunctantem flectere sermo
coeperat, infelix umero cum apparuit alto
balteus et notis fulserunt cingula bullis
Pallantis pueri, victum quem vulnere Turnus
straverat, atque umeris inimicum insigne gerebat.

This is Robert Fagles translation of the same passage:
Aeneas, ferocious in armor, stood there, still,
shifting his gaze, and held his sword-arm back,
holding himself back too as Turnus' words began
to sway him more and more... when all at once
he caught sight of the fateful sword belt of Pallas,
swept over Turnus' shoulder, gleaming with shining studs
Aeneas knew by heart. Young Pallas, whom Turnus had overpowered,
taken down with a wound, and now his shoulder flaunted
his enemy's battle-emblem like a trophy.

I find this a very interesting passage. It is nearly the last lines in the book. Everything has lead up to this moment. In this passage, pity gives way to anger, mercy to revenge. And then the book ends, as Turnus' unfortunate spirit flies to the shades. It is a sudden end, in which there is no resolution. Aeneas wins and that's that. Either Virgil did not care that his readers are left hanging and wanted to emphasize the brutality and warfare ideas which founded Rome, or else he simply did not have time to finish before he died. I find it almost funny how it ends. If on purpose, then it sheds a disagreeing eye on the warlike and aggressive attitude of the Romans. If Virgil had meant to add an end, which included marriage and resolution with the Latins, then I would say he was instead accepting that vengeance was necessary for life and for the good of Rome. As it is, I am uncertain, as many people are. But this lack (or not) of an ending does not keep this epic from being any less renowned.

The Aeneid

And now Dido leads her guest through the heart of Carthage, displaying Phoenician power, the city readied for him... Now at dusk she call for the feast to start again, madly begging to hear again the agony of Troy, to hang on his lips again, savoring his story. Then... alone in the echoing hall, distraught, she flings herself on the couch that he left empty. Lost as he is, she's lost as well, she hears him, sees him or holds Ascanius back and dandles him on her lap, bewitched by the boy's resemblance to his father, trying to cheat the love she dare not tell. The towers of Carthage, half built, rise no more, and the young men quit their combat drills in arms. The harbors, the battlements planned to block attack, all work's suspended now...

This passage is from Virgil's Aeneid, chapter 4, verses 92-110. This is a very interesting and well known passage, as it expresses the chaos caused by Aeneas' presence. In the Latin original, the pronouns used to refer to Dido are actually masculine, which is abnormal. Virgil did this to show that she was working and leading like a man, yet prone to the mistakes and emotional pit-falls of women. "Beware of manly women." As her attention shifts from the care of her city to Aeneas, Dido is described as "mad" and she "savors" Aeneas' story as if it were feeding her. In a sense, it is feeding her, or at least the fire which Venus -- goddess of love -- sparked into being. The passage becomes almost ironic, as she is obsessed with Ascanius (who is Cupid in disguise), yet tries to "cheat the love", which is impossible. The end of the passage is completely contradictory to the beginning. The first showing a beautiful bustling beehive, and the second describing a dejected dream. Thus Aeneas' entrance and beginning is the end and destruction of Dido.

Another Poem

Who says that I am dead
Knows nought at all.
I -- am that is,
Two mice within Redwall.
The warrior sleeps
'Twixt Hall and Cavern Hole.
I -- am that is,
Take on my mighty role.
Look for the sword
In moonlight streaming forth,
At night, when day's first hour
Reflects the North.
From o'er the threshold
Seek and you will see;
I -- am that is,
My sword will wield for me.

This poem is taken from Brian Jacques' "Redwall". The poem is actually a puzzle, which makes it a significant part of the book. Because its a puzzle, the whole poem is basically a poetic device.
The end of every second line rhymes, giving it a nice pattern. Besides that, the third, seventh, and fifteenth lines are identical, making a kind of extended anaphora. They also seem a sort of interruption of the poem (aposiopesis?) until you reorder the letters so that they spell: Matthias. Then the puzzle of the poem comes through and it begins to make more sense. The point of view is also a type of poetic device, as it was supposedly written by someone who has been long dead. In which case, it becomes a prophecy. Thus this poen has many poetic devices in it.