Scanning Homer

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Kasper
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Scanning Homer

Post by Kasper »

Inspired by the iambics and the Will's Intro to Greek Meter (great piece Will!!) I'm trying my hand at Homer. I 'm slowly working through Pharr. I have some doubts about scanning this line however:

polla\s d) )ifqi/mous yuca\s )/Aidi proï/ayen
ˉ ˉ | ˉ ˉ | ˉ ˉ | ˉ ˉ | ˉ ˘ ˘ | ˉ ˉ |

Is that about right? It seems rather loose for dactyls...
“Cum ego verbo utar,” Humpty Dumpty dixit voce contempta, “indicat illud quod optem – nec plus nec minus.”
“Est tamen rogatio” dixit Alice, “an efficere verba tot res indicare possis.”
“Rogatio est, “Humpty Dumpty responsit, “quae fiat magister – id cunctum est.”

annis
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Re: Scanning Homer

Post by annis »

Kasper wrote:Is that about right?
Yes.
It seems rather loose for dactyls...
Loose?
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;

Kasper
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Re: Scanning Homer

Post by Kasper »

annis wrote:
Kasper wrote:Is that about right?
Yes.
It seems rather loose for dactyls...
Loose?
Loose: well, very few short syllables.

And thanks for the confirmation!
“Cum ego verbo utar,” Humpty Dumpty dixit voce contempta, “indicat illud quod optem – nec plus nec minus.”
“Est tamen rogatio” dixit Alice, “an efficere verba tot res indicare possis.”
“Rogatio est, “Humpty Dumpty responsit, “quae fiat magister – id cunctum est.”

annis
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Re: Scanning Homer

Post by annis »

Kasper wrote:Loose: well, very few short syllables.
Ah.

Hellenistic and later period poets working in the hexameter had a marked aversion to too many spondees, but the earliest Epic has no such qualms, though an all-spondee line isn't exactly common.
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;

chad
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Post by chad »

Hi Kasper, also the 4th foot is a dactyl, not a spondee: it's tricky but you can tell because the )/ symbols are next to the A rather than over the iota (which means that it's not a diphthong). :)

Eureka
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Re: Scanning Homer

Post by Eureka »

annis wrote:
Kasper wrote:Loose: well, very few short syllables.
Ah.

Hellenistic and later period poets working in the hexameter had a marked aversion to too many spondees, but the earliest Epic has no such qualms, though an all-spondee line isn't exactly common.
I agree with the later poets on this one. Three syllables good, two syllables bad.

Kasper
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Post by Kasper »

chad wrote:Hi Kasper, also the 4th foot is a dactyl, not a spondee: it's tricky but you can tell because the )/ symbols are next to the A rather than over the iota (which means that it's not a diphthong). :)
Yeah Will! :wink:
“Cum ego verbo utar,” Humpty Dumpty dixit voce contempta, “indicat illud quod optem – nec plus nec minus.”
“Est tamen rogatio” dixit Alice, “an efficere verba tot res indicare possis.”
“Rogatio est, “Humpty Dumpty responsit, “quae fiat magister – id cunctum est.”

chad
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Post by chad »

No I blame pharr, in my Oxford Classical Text the diaresis is marked. Pharr marks it for proi/ayen but not for )/Aidi...

Kasper
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Post by Kasper »

No no. The )/Aidi was clearly marked. Will is to blame. There is no question about it.
“Cum ego verbo utar,” Humpty Dumpty dixit voce contempta, “indicat illud quod optem – nec plus nec minus.”
“Est tamen rogatio” dixit Alice, “an efficere verba tot res indicare possis.”
“Rogatio est, “Humpty Dumpty responsit, “quae fiat magister – id cunctum est.”

annis
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Post by annis »

Kasper wrote:No no. The )/Aidi was clearly marked. Will is to blame. There is no question about it.
D'oh! Right you are.

I even used )/Aidi recently, and spent some time digging into the various ways it can be scanned (either - u u or u u u). But I forgot.

For penance I will go read one of the political threads.
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;

Emma_85
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Post by Emma_85 »

annis wrote:For penance I will go read one of the political threads.
:shock:

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