Scanning and identifying meter in a poem

A

Anonymous

Guest

Hi everyone, my name's Jessica, this is my first post. : )

All year in my Latin class I've made straight A's (yipee!!), but one thing I stuggled on was scanning. Thankfully, we never took a grade on scanning until now.

By monday, as one part of a much bigger final exam project, I need to scan and identify the meter of 25 lines of a poem.

It's frustrating because I see so many people scan something in no time, yet I can't get past one line.

Finally my question: Can someone please, please scan these 25 lines for me? It's the first 25 lines of Amores 1.6, we're doin it as our final poem.

I'm not sure if the best way is to write by hand and scan and send in an email or if there's an easy way to do it all on the computer, but either way I would love it if someone could take the time out of their day to help me out.

My email is [email protected]. If someone could post here and help me out it would be much appreciated!!

--



1 ianitor (indignum) dura religate catena,

2 difficilem moto cardine pande forem.

3 quod precor, exiguum est: aditu fac ianua parvo

4 obliquum capiat semiadaperta latus.

5 longus amor tales corpus tenuavit in usus

6 aptaque subducto pondere membra dedit;

7 ille per excubias custodum leniter ire

8 monstrat: inoffensos derigit ille pedes.

9 at quondam noctem simulacraque vana timebam;

10 mirabar, tenebris quisquis iturus erat:

11 risit, ut audirem, tenera cum matre Cupido

12 et leviter 'fies tu quoque fortis' ait.

13 nec mora, venit amor: non umbras nocte volantis,

14 non timeo strictas in mea fata manus;

15 te nimium lentum timeo, tibi blandior uni:

16 tu, me quo possis perdere, fulmen habes.

17 adspice (uti videas, inmitia claustra relaxa)

18 uda sit ut lacrimis ianua facta meis.

19 certe ego, cum posita stares ad verbera veste,

20 ad dominam pro te verba tremente tuli.

21 ergo quae valuit pro te quoque gratia quondam,

22 heu facinus! pro me nunc valet illa parum?

23 redde vicem meritis! grato licet esse quod optas.

24 tempora noctis eunt; excute poste seram.

25 excute: sic, inquam, longa relevere catena,
 

Encolpius

Member

Location:
Frutex Pastoralis, Londinium
Scanning can be very tricky, and it's important to know what kind of rhythm to expect before getting down to it, (a bit like knowing that a song is a waltz, in 3/4 time, before starting to play it on the piano).

Anyway, these lines are in Latin elegiac couplets, for which the standard pattern is

HEXAMETER:
-vv|-vv|-vv|-vv|-vv|--

dum diddy, dum diddy, dum diddy, dum diddy, dum diddy, dum dum
(6 feet: 5 dactyls and 1 spondee)

alternating with

PENTAMETER:
-vv|-vv|- || -vv|-vv|-

dum diddy, dum diddy, dum; dum diddy, dum diddy, dum
(5 feet: 2 dactyls, half a spondee, 2 dactyls, half a spondee)
(The || after the first half spondee denotes a "caesura", or break between words)

Basically, the only variations on this rule are that:
(1) in the HEXAMETER line, any of the first 4 feet may be spondees rather than dactyls (but the last 2 feet virtually always go dum diddy, dum dum); and
(2) in the PENTAMETER line, either of the first 2 feet may be spondees rather than dactyls (but the rest is virutally always dum; dum diddy, dum diddy, dum).

So the ends of the lines virtually always conform to the pattern (which is why I've put them all in red), but the earlier feet might be either dum diddies or dum dums. Simple, eh?

So, line 1 is a HEXAMETER:

-vv|--|--|-vv|-vv|--

with a caesura (break) in the third foot between the words indigNUM || DUra (so you could write the third foot -||- if you want).

Line 2 is a PENTAMETER:

-vv|--|- || -vv|-vv|-.

Line 3 is back to HEXAMETER, but note that there is a standard elision of m+vowel for "exiguum est" = "exiguumst", -vv|-.

As for which syllables are long and which are short: a rule of thumb is that a syllable is long if it has a vowel followed by two consonants or a double consonant like "x" (which is why "exiguumst" = -vv-). Ablative endings in 1st declension are also long, so "dura(...) catena" = --(...) v--.

Scanning in elegiac couplets is more mechanical and less complicated than you think - lines in such poems really don't have that many variations. Some other metres (especially Greek ones) are utterly mind-bending :brickwall: Let us know if you need any more help.
 

Cato

Consularis

  • Consularis

Location:
Chicago, IL
Encolpius has the details. If you're stuck, keep these tips in mind:
  • The odd lines are hexameters, evens are pentameters (the pentameters are sometimes indented slightly).
  • For the hexameters, count the number of syllables in the line (don't count elided syllables) and subtract 12: This will be the number of dactyl (long-short-short) feet in the line. The line almost always will end dactyl-spondee (long-short-short long-long), so you have a third of the line right there. The poet will also try to break the line into two halves after the long syllable in the third or fourth foot (this is called the caesura); don't worry too much about that, but it indicates that in the middle of a verse the poets were loathe to end a word at a foot boundary; they liked instead to spread a word across two adjacent feet (except for the first and last foot, which often will contain a single word).
  • For the pentameters, the last seven syllables will always be long-short-short long-short-short long. These should also form a somewhat complete phrase (or at least a break between words at the start of this set). The syllable just before this seven-syllalbe ending is always long. That leaves the first 4-6 syllables, which can either be two dactyls, two spondee, or a mix.
  • Mark all dipthongs (ae, au, etc.) and vowels followed by two consonants (other than h) with a macron. Yes, these syllables are occasionally short (if the second consonant is l or r this can happen), but it doesn't happen that often.
  • Mark all vowels followed by another vowel (excepting elided syllables and dipthongs) as short (e.g. the i in excubias). This is almost always correct (forms of fio--which has a long i--are the only worthwhile exception, and there is one in your text). And take care you're not marking a consonantal i (i.e. j)
  • If you're stuck and the word is at least three syllables, pronounce the word aloud. If you naturally accent the second-to-last syllable, that syllable is long, otherwise it's short. Ianitor is pronounced "JA-ni-tor", so you know the i is short. Religate on the other hand is "re-li-GA-te", so the a is long.
  • A final e is almost always short; the only exception is for adverbs like certe (in your text, but elided). Final o is almost always long.
  • There are a number of short words that end in m like iam, tam, quam, cum that are never elided; these are obviously always long. Three common words that consist of two shorts are mihi, tibi, and quoque
 
A

Anonymous

Guest

Thank you! Thank you for the help! Both of your posts helped tremendously on my work this weekend.

Now to turn it in tomorrow!
 
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