Hi Thesaurus !
I’ll share my thoughts with you on composition and self-expression. Books specifically on “composition” contain structured translation exercises going from English to Latin, no? The purpose of these books is to teach us how to write, writing being a virtual synonym for composition. As I write this, I am putting together or composing my thoughts. Well, the books on composition do indeed constitute a time-tested method for teaching us how to express our thoughts (which come to us in English usually, right?) in another tongue, in this case Latin. Because, however, of some mental deficiencies peculiar to me I simply don’t have the patience for simply working through a composition book on my own. I wish I did!
What I do is go directly to task of trying to express my own thoughts in Latin without having done the intervening preparatory work (slogging through a composition book). This is really frustrating especially at the beginning (which is where I am now again) but with practice the ink should flow more freely.
This is called “learning by doing.? This arduous process, I think can be accelerated by adding 2 elements: reading a lot of neo-latin and LISTENING to a lot as well. The idea is that the brain and ear will be so “conditioned? that when you go to write something the words will appear in the brain as if by magic. But it is not magic. Rather it is using the mind’s natural neurological organization for language aquisition. I also believe that reciting passages aloud can be of great benefit. I recently met a Peruvian who had learned to speak English rather fluently in less than a year. Being able to speak well, he naturally has a step-up when it comes to writing. Asked how he had done it, he said that he had studied a lot and had recited to himself a lot and watched a lot of TV.
Study of grammar, vocabulary and composition is the formal method of language acquisition – the ability to understand, speak, and write. Simply listening, gradually comprehending, immersing one self, progressing in expression from babbling to eloquence – that is the “natural? method. Children brought up in literate households are able to learn to write (compose) in their native tongues generally with very little exposure to the formal method. For adults attempting to learn a foreign language, neither method is sufficient. I have examples in my own family. My mother in law learned English just by moving to this country. After many years of constant exposure (immersion), she learned to speak and understand most things. She never studied at all. She learned completely naturally without recourse to STUDY of any kind. The problem is she does not now speak standard English but rather the broken English of many Spanish speaking adults in this country – and this after 30 years of using the natural method. My wife, in contrast, who arrived in this country at the same time speaks and WRITES (composes) perfectly because she applied both methods simultaneously by immersing herself and by formal STUDY.
Returning to composition – hey, I see I have wondered more than a little bit – an ideal composition program (IMHO) would combine formal study (working through a composition book, say), informal writing in which you try to express your own thoughts in latin, and repeated recitation and hearing of selected neo-latin materials.
As for poetry, you will be delighted to know that I have NOTHNG to say about specifically how to become a poet! I will remark however that you are from alone in your desire to resurrect latin as a language of artistic expression for our times. There are quite a number of poets out there. There is one 19-year –old kid on GLL who actually aspires to be the Catulus or Horatius of our age. Join the Grex to learn more and read his works in progress! A book length history in verse of Mexico was recently published by an aging catholic priest. There are many other active latin poets. Is it possible for a poet in our time to equal the poets of antiquity? Yes, why not ? To conclude (thank god!), I applaud your plan to raise yourself to highest levels of latinitas where members of a very select tribe of modern humanists unfold modern themes both formally in prose and artistically in poetry! People who formally study latin but who never aspire to self-expression in latin are the very persons, the very malfactors ( !) who are responsible for the mistaken belief that latin is a dead language. They are drones and drudges! Dixi . Valeas beneque ut tibi sit! Kynetus