analysis

• metre

  lots of spondees gives a heavy, plodding metre, reflecting the efforts and rejection of the speaker
• lecturam spera

  in full this would be 'spera eam scriptum lecturam esse'- the idea is that the lover should send the letter again and again, until she gives in and reads it
• tempore

  emphatic position of this word is key to his argument, repetition emphasises this in the next line
• iuvenci

  bullocks were regularly used for drawing ploughs- end of line for emphasis
• equi

  delayed helping to complete the paralleism between the two lines
• ferreus..anulus

  hardest metal at the time used for rings
• assidua

  emphatically repeated in the same position in the next line but with a slightly different meaning
• saxo durum..mollius unda

  chiasmus emphasises the contrast between the hard rock and soft water
• dura..molli saxa..aqua

  hyperbaton provides a juxtaposition by placing opposites near eachother
• tempore

  used again for further emphasis, echoes its use in lines 3 and 4
• pergama

  capital of troy captured after a 10 year siege with the greeks
• sero

  greeks never gave up so they finally won, ovids view on his love quest
• capta..capta tamen

  rounds up the meaning of the poem