Latin Metre

*Please note that this course will run only if two or more students enroll.

Course Description: Poems are meant to be read aloud. At least, this was a given in Antiquity: often, they were or music themselves or accompanied by music. Yet, today, many people (from university students to teachers) are feeling uncomfortable to read them aloud, either being unfamiliar with metre at all, or, although knowing how scansion works, are not sure how it is to be actually read. Doing so, you concentrate mainly on the poem’s contents and its rhetoric, but you miss a great deal of the poet’s artwork: its outer form, its sound, its music, which, very often, is employed skillfully to underline the meaning. Apart from that, knowing metre helps a lot in understanding the grammar of a poem (e.g. when you have to decide which words belong together based on its quantities). This course will be an semi-intensive introduction in Latin metre: while the participants will learn how to scan verses, the main focus will be on reading aloud. We will start from an introduction into prosody (pronunciation, accent, vowel and syllable quantities etc.), passing on to the various metres of Classical Roman poetry as Hexameter, Elegiacs, Iambic Trimeter and Lyrical verses. All of this will always be in line with the skills and wishes of the students.

DETAILS

Level: Required is a basic knowledge of Latin. The course is for students (High School, university) as well as for teachers who want to feel more secure teaching metre to their class, or everyone else. You do not need to have any experience in metre. If you do have some experience, you can use this course for further practice. There will be different assignments for home (like scanning, memorizing etc.). An active participation during the lessons is required to make the course for you as effective as possible! The course language can be English and/or Latin, based on the participants’ skills!

Textbook: Instructor will provide materials.