Teaching Scansion

Strategy One: “quick and dirty” rules

  • a. take the last five syllables and go — ⏝ ⏝ — —
  • b. mark any elisions
  • c. if it ends in an o, it’s long
  • d. go through and mark all the longs (-es is always long)
  • e. mark off the feet as you have them
  • f. then, count up the remaining vowels and divide by 2 or 3, or see what should be in that place

Example:

a) last 5 syllables marked offsubmissoque humiles intrarunt vērtĭcĕ pōstēs
b) remove ue and h, as they elidesubmissoque humiles intrarunt vērtĭcĕ pōstēs
c) final o is long (ignore q – not part of the word)submissōque humiles intrarunt vērtĭcĕ pōstēs
d) long vowels marked; vowel followed by 2 consonants is long (except sometimes l, h, r, m)   sūbmīssōque humilēs īntrarūnt vērtĭcĕ pōstēs
e) mark off feet (2 longs or a long + 2 short)sūbmīs/sōque humilēs īntrarūnt / vērtĭcĕ / pōstēs
f) see what vowels are leftsūbmīs/sōque hu1mi2lēs īntra3rūnt / vērtĭcĕ / pōstēs
g) 3 must be long – it is between 2 longssūbmīs/sōque hu1mi2lēs īntrārūnt / vērtĭcĕ / pōstēs
h) 1 & 2 must be short, since that is all that is left and the vowel before it is longsūbmīs/sōque hŭmĭlēs īntrārūnt / vērtĭcĕ / pōstēs
(Philemon & Baucis 638)sūbmīs/sōque hŭmĭ/lēs īntr/ārūnt / vērtĭcĕ / pōstēs

This works well with students who want rules, who are result, as opposed to process, oriented, who like the idea of math vs art.  Logical thinkers like to figure it out this way.

Strategy 2: dactyl – finger

Since dactyl is the Greek word for finger, this makes sense. This is good for students who like to see and touch things in front of them.

Strategy Three: Music

Use the analogy of whole and half notes, or half notes and quarter notes. With the relative size, 2 shorts take up the same space as 1 long. This is especially good for students who sing, or understand or can read music.

By Ruth Breindel, who taught Latin, Greek, Linguistics and Mythology at Moses Brown School for 30 years.

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