OTP: Lesson - The Scansion of Poetry - Introduction
The Scansion of Poetry - Introduction
Latin poetry, like poetry in all languages, is rhythmic. Unlike English poetry which relies on stressed and unstressed syllables to establish its rhythm, the rhythm of Latin poetry was based on the quantity of the syllables - how long it takes to pronounce the syllable. In order to determine the rhythmical pattern of Latin poetry, we scan the poem, i.e., we determine whether syllables are long or short and we divide them into feet (a grouping of long and short syllables).
Terminology of Scansion
Before we learn how to scan a line of poetry, we need to have an understanding of the terminology used in scansion.
- Scansion - a way to determine the meter of a poem
- Syllable - the smallest unit of language - the "building blocks" for words.
- Syllabification - the division of a word into syllables
- Quantity - the length of a syllable: long or short
- Foot - a grouping of long and short syllables with specific patterns. The feet that you will encounter in this course are:
- Dactyl = long, short, short
- Spondee = long, long
- Trochee = long, short
- Iamb = short, long
- Meter - the rhythm of a line of poetry, using a specific set of rules that describes how many feet are used and, often, which feet are used. Commonly used meters:
- Hexameter - six (hexa-) feet in a line
- Pentameter - five (penta-) feet in a line
- Dactylic hexameter - a set of six feet per line; the line will always conclude: dactyl, spondee. This is also called "epic meter" as it was used by the epic poets (Homer in Greece and Vergil in Rome)
- Elegiac couplet: a line in hexameter followed by a line in pentameter. The two lines together tend to form a single concept or idea.
- Hendecasyllabic: each line contains eleven (hendeca-) syllables in five feet. The first foot may be a spondee, iamb, or trochee, followed by a dactyl, two trochees, and finally a spondee or trochee.
- Caesura - a pause within a line (the reader would be expected to take a breath here). The second line of an elegiac couplet will always include a caesura between the two halves of the line.
Abbreviations and symbols
- A long syllable is marked with a dash: —
- Stressed/long syllables can also be marked with: / but for the purposes of working digitally, we will use the —
- A short syllable is marked with by the letter u
- this is also marked with the symbol: ˘ but for the purposes of working digitally, we will use the u
- A syllable that could be either long or short is marked with the letter x
- The division between feet is marked with a solid line: |
- A caesura will be marked with two solid lines: ||
An example of what a scanned line of dactylic hexameter would look like using the symbols:
— u u | — u u | — u u | — — | — u u | — x
The feet listed above are:
- dactyl (long, short, short: — u u )
- dactyl
- dactyl
- spondee (long, long: — — )
- dactyl
- spondee (regardless of the actual length of the final syllable, dactylic hexameter is always scanned with a final spondee)
Practice Activity
Take some time to review this terminology. It is a great idea to take notes! Use the following quiz to check your understanding before moving on.
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