For the moon with OPTATIO

“I wish I had more time to spend with my family.”

- ROOPA BANERJEE

When we say this, we are expressing a wish to be fulfilled. We know that this wish conveys our sense of longing and regret and hope for a better situation, even if it is unlikely to be realised. But what most of us don’t know is that we are using the literary device optatio to voice these wishes.

Optatio is a figure of speech expressing a wish or hope, often with the objective of affecting the listener or changing reality. It is commonly used in literature, poetry, and everyday speech, and is an effective way of adding depth and meaning to the written or spoken word.

The word optatio originates from the Latin optare which means to wish or choose. Optatio has been used for centuries in classical rhetoric, and passed down generations as a technique for writers and speakers to influence their audiences.

An early example is in William Shakespeare's Sonnet 29. In this legendary poetic work, Shakespeare expresses the narrator’s wish for happiness and deliverance from troubles: