An Intro to Scanning Latin Poetry
An introduction to an important skill. I find, typically, that this process is always more difficult to explain than the actual process of scansion is in practice. Nevertheless, I will attempt to break it down as succinctly and clearly as possible below. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out or comment below.
Part I: Syllabifying Isolated Latin Words
Learning to properly divide words into syllables is fundamental to identifying a syllable’s quantity, the life blood of classical poetry, and a topic we will approach at the end of this post.
Rule 1: In Latin, syllables want to begin with a single consonant and end with vowels whenever possible.
Rule 2: The coincidence of two consonants forces us to terminate a syllable on a consonant to allow the next syllable to begin with a single consonant.
Following our rules, the dissyllabic word LACUS, would be divided as follows:
LA|CUS
the division allows the first syllable to end in a vowel and the next one to begin with a consonant. The final syllable, because there are no more divisions, terminates by necessity in a consonant.
According to our rules, the word AMICUS would be divided like so:
A | MI | CUS
The first syllable, because there is no consonant for it to begin on, will begin with a vowel. We close the consonant before the M to allow the next syllable to begin with a consonant, which is what we want. Similarly, we close the syllable after the I to allow the next syllable to begin with a consonant.
Finally, let’s look at a slightly longer word FAMILIARIS. It will be divided as:
FA | MI | LI | A | RIS
We are following the same rules as before, allowing the consonants, when possible, to initiate our syllables, and vowels to bring them to a close. The isolation of the second A may give the novice pause, being inclined to group the R with it. However, this would break the rule we set out above, since we do not end a syllable with a consonant unless compelled by the coincidence of two consonants or if the word ends with a consonant.
Let’s take a look at a word that forces us to end a division with a consonant. The word ECCE will be divided like this,
EC | CE
because the coincidence of two consonants forces us to split them so that the final syllable can start with a single consonant. (There are certain groupings of consonants that we do not split, depending on their position, because they are pronounced together as if they were a single one, but we will touch on that below.)
Lets look at another. ARDEBAT, will be divided as follows:
AR | DE | BAT
We are forced to end the final syllable on a consonant so that the following syllable can begin with a single consonant, according to the rule. The following syllables follow the rules as normal.
There are certain groupings of syllables that when scanned in isolation we do not separate, as they are not distinct in pronunciation. Some examples are:
PL-
CL-
ST-
GR-
TR –
PR-
ST-
TR-
STR-
a word like STABAT, therefore would be divided like:
STA | BAT
since we consider the st- sound to be a single sound in this word. Similarly, in the word VASTABAT, where the -st- sound occurs in the middle,
VA|STA|BAT
And the word MONSTRUM will be divided as
MON|STRUM
These consonant groupings also affect contextualized words as we will see below.
Part II: Syllabifying Contextualized Words
When scanning words that are part of a sentence, we must take into consideration the syllables of the preceeding and following words. When dividing syllables, it is easiest to think of the sentence as a single word to be divided, rather than individual words. Let’s take the opening lines of Ovid’s Metamorphosis as an example:
IN NOVA FERT ANIMUS MUTATAS DICERE FORMAS
The divsion into syllables will look like this:
IN | NO|VA | FER|T A|NI|MUS | MU|TA|TAS | DI|CE|RE | FOR|MAS
Notice that the final R in FERT is is contained in the following syllable. This is to allow the next word to start with a consonant, which it can steal, so to speak, from the previous word that had an extra one to give. Again, we are dividing the sentence as if it were one long word, allowing syllables to start with consonants and end with vowels when we can.
Let’s look a different one:
NULLUS ARGENTO COLOR EST AVARIS
Will be divided like this
NUL|LU|S AR|GEN|TO |CO|LO|R ES|T A|VA|RIS
Part III: Syllable Quantity
The final step to scansion is aknowledging the length of a syllable, a seamless process if you have properly divided the syllables.
A syllable is considered long if:
1) it contains a long vowel
2) it ends in a consonant.
So if we take our lines from earlier and add macrons to distinguish long vowels from short ones, acknowledging long and short syllables becomes quite easy:
¯ = long syllable
ˇ = short syllable
¯ ˇ ˇ ¯ ˇ ˇ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ˇ ˇ
IN | NO|VA | FER|T A|NI|MUS | MŪ|TĀ|TĀS | DĪ|CE|RE | FOR|MĀS
¯ ˇ ¯ ¯ ¯ ˇ ˇ ¯ ˇ ¯ ¯
NUL|LU|S AR|GEN|TŌ |CO|LO|R ES|T A|VĀ|RIS
Keep in mind that the divisions you see above are not divisions of the metrical feet, but of the syllables. We can add divsions to the metrical feet for clarity like so:
¯ ˇ ˇ | ¯ ˇ ˇ | ¯ ¯ | ¯ ¯ | ¯ ˇ ˇ |
IN NOVA FERT ANIMUS MŪTĀTĀS DĪCERE FORMĀS
These divisions separate the dactyls from the spondees so that we can clearly see the six feet required of dactylic hexameter, the meter of the Metamorphoses. I will reserve a longer discussion of meter for another day, but, in brief, dactyllic hexameter is comprised of two different kinds of metrical feet: dactyls and spondees. A dactyl is a long syllable followed by two short ones ( ¯ ˇ ˇ )
and a spondee is two long syllables in succession: ¯ ¯ . Dactyllic hexameter is relatively simple. All of the feet can be either a dactyl or a spondee, with the exception of the final two, which must be a dactyl and a spondee in succession. Each verses consists of exactly six feet.
Part IIII: Elision
The final topic of today’s post. Elision is the practice of leaving certain vowels unpronounced despite being written in the text. There are very simple rules for elision:
Rule 1: If the final syllable of a word ends in a vowel or the consonant -m, and the next begins with a vowel or the consonant -h, the final syllable of the first word is left unpronounced. e.g.
MULTA QUOQUE ET BELLO PASSUS DUM CONDERET URBEM
The -e in QUOQUE will not be pronounced nor is it scanned because the next word begins with a vowel.
Similarly:
ATQUE ANIMUM NUNC HUC CELEREM NUNC DIVIDIT ILLUC
and
INRISAM SINE HONORE RATEM SERGESTUS AGEBAT
and
VESTIBULUM ANTE IPSUM PRIMISQUE IN FAUCIBUS ORCI
Rule 2: If a word ends in a vowel or -m and the next word is est, the e of est is elided instead. e.g.
ISTA REPERCUSSAE, QUAM CERNIS, IMAGINIS UMBRA EST.
SED HOC MIHI MOLESTUM’ST = SED HOC MIHI MOLESTUM EST
In epic poetry, elision is a relatively rare event, but in the iambic lines of, say, Terence, elision can happen many times in a line for multiple consecutive lines. Check these verses out from the opening of Terence’s Adelphoe
VAH! QUEMQUAMNE HOMINEM IN ANIMO INSTITUERE AUT
PARARE QUOD SIT CARIUS QUAM IPSE EST SIBI
Knowing this pattern will free you to analyze a large chunk of Roman poetry as it hopefully presents a kind of answer key for the dactylic hexameter verse. Test your skills by scanning the opening lines of the Aeneid. It will take some practice to get used to, but you can check your work by making sure that you have six feet that fit into dactyls and spondees:
N.B the -ia in Lavinia is scanned as a single syllable.
Arma virumque cano Troiae qui primus ab oris
Italiam fato profugus Laviniaque venit
Litora multum ille et terris iactatus et alto
vi superum saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram
multa quoque bello passus dum conderet urbem
inferretque deos Latio genus unde Latinum
Albanique patres atque altae moenia Romae.
Musa mihi causas memora quo numine laeso
quidve dolens regina deum tot volvere casus
insignem pietate virum tot adire labores
impulerit. Tantaene animis caelestibus irae.
And those are the basics. I hope you found this useful. Best of luck scanning!
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– Rogerius