Elegiac Couplets
in Latin Verse
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A Common Misspelling:
Elegaic
Elegiac
A Common Misspelling:
Elegaic
Elegiac
Pairs of Lines
Pairs of Lines
Dactylic Hexameter
Dactylic Pentameter
Dactylic Hexameter:
Dactylic Hexameter:
∪∪⎮
∪∪⎮
∪∪⎮
∪∪⎮
∪∪⎮
at regina gravi iamdudum saucia cura
The Pentameter:
Two and a Half Dactyls
The Pentameter:
Two and a Half Dactyls
Plus Two and a Half Dactyls!
Plus Two and a Half Dactyls!
The Hemiepes half an epic line
Raspberry Blackberry Pie!
The Hemiepes half an epic line
Raspberry Blackberry Pie!
The Hemiepes half an epic line
Raspberry Blackberry Pie!
Even Latinists can do
Math:
• 2.5 + 2.5 = 5 = pentameter
One more rule
• In the first half-line, dactyls can be
spondees
• In the second half-line, dactyls are dactyls!
So:
Oh, yeah - last syllable is anceps (can be either long or
short), and is always considered to be long even when not
(brevis in longo)
So:
Oh, yeah - last syllable is anceps (can be either long or
short), and is always considered to be long even when not
(brevis in longo)
So:
Oh, yeah - last syllable is anceps (can be either long or
short), and is always considered to be long even when not
(brevis in longo)
Both lines:
Both lines:
∪∪⎮
∪∪⎮
∪∪⎮
∪∪⎮
∪∪⎮
An Example: Catullus 101
MVLTAS per gentes et multa per aequora uectus
aduenio has miseras, frater, ad inferias,
ut te postremo donarem munere mortis
et mutam nequiquam alloquerer cinerem,
quandoquidem fortuna mihi tete abstulit ipsum.
heu miser indigne frater adempte mihi,
nunc tamen interea haec, prisco quae more parentum
tradita sunt tristi munere ad inferias,
accipe fraterno multum manantia fletu,
atque in perpetuum, frater, aue atque uale.
Carried through many peoples, over many seas,
I arrive at these sad rites, brother,
that I may give may perform for you my last death duty
and pointlessly address your mute ashes,
since, after all, fortune has taken you yourself from me.
Alas, poor brother, unfairly taken from me,
nonetheless, meantime, accept these offerings which have been passed on by
ancestral custom as a sad gift for your journey to the shades
fully flowing as they are with a brother's weeping,
and forever, brother, goodbye, be well.
multas per gentes et multa per aequora uectus
aduenio has miseras, frater, ad inferias,
multas per gentes et multa per aequora uectus
Elision before h
aduenio has miseras, frater, ad inferias,
The caesura always comes after the first halfline; we mark it with a double line
A New Term
• Wherever a word break occurs at a
significant point in the meter, we call it a
diaeresis (Greek for “division”)
• We can regard that caesura in the
pentameter as a regular diaeresis, since
(unlike in the hexameter) there’s a point in
the verse where there must be a word
break
ut te postremo donarem munere mortis
et mutam nequiquam alloquerer cinerem,
Elision of -am before vowel!
quandoquidem fortuna mihi tete abstulit ipsum.
heu miser indigne frater adempte mihi,
nunc tamen interea haec, prisco quae more parentum
tradita sunt tristi munere ad inferias,
nunc tamen interea haec, prisco quae more parentum
tradita sunt tristi munere ad inferias,
accipe fraterno multum manantia fletu,
atque in perpetuum, frater, aue atque uale.
accipe fraterno multum manantia fletu,
atque in perpetuum, frater, aue atque uale.
Catullus has been accused of overdoing the elision thing...