Reading in meter: accents and ictus

Latin Learning Latin
1

I recently posted on how I might work on The Aeneid, and most responders redirected me to Ovid. This turned out to be good advice. The recommendations were to work on the meter first and comprehending the Latin before going to look at commentaries and translations. So, I decided to take this advice and I started on Pyramus and Thisbe.

This immediately led to a few questions when reciting the meter. Looking at the scansion of the first two lines, I have:
– . . / – – / – . . / – – / – . . / – –
Py ra mus/et This/be iu ve/num pul/cher ri mus/al ter,

– . . / – . . / – . . / – – / – . . / – –
al er a/quas O ri/ens ha bu/it prae/la ta pu/el lis

The ictus on each foot containing iuvenum and habuit is on the last syllable of the word. However, in normal prose the long syllable is not on the last syllable of these words. Neither would the accent be there.

I know that accent and long syllables are two different things, but I find this sometimes difficult to distinguish in speech. That is, accenting short syllables is tough for me. And not accenting the ictus long syllable is equally tough. I reading the poem out loud and I’m wondering if I am anywhere close to what it should sound like.

First, is the scansion correct?
Second, do I understand the ictus/accent problem correctly?
Third, any hints on how to get the accents correct? I can recite the meter correctly for the most part.

Finally, and unrelated, is this post in Learning Latin correct? Should it go to Latin Poetry? It seems that a lot of poetry questions end up in Learning Latin.

Thanks for any help and advice.

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Pyramus et Thisbe, iuvenum pulcherrimus alter,
alter quas Oriens habuit praelata puellis,

You should read it as if it were prose, with the natural word accents. Forget ictus.

As you read more you’ll find that in the prior part of the line the accent tends to clash with the metrical “ictus” (that is, the fixed long syllable of the foot), while towards the end it coincides with it, resolving the earlier tension. Don’t bash the beat (as many do); the meter provides an ongoing undercurrent without needing to be emphasized.

So in these two verses you should respect the word accent on Thisbe and iuvenum (against the so-called ictus) and likewise on Oriens and habuit. And once you get a bit more comfortable with hexameters you should no longer read foot by foot but simply head for the 3rd-foot caesura, strongly marked by the syntax of the first verse here (after Thisbe); then the rest of the line should pretty well take care of itself. And try not to lose sight of the sense and the artistry.

If I rightly understand your notation, your scanning is correct. But the caesura is an important structural feature. Nearly all lines have at least word-end within the 3rd foot, and often a syntactical break of some kind there too (though not in the second verse here, where the 4th-foot caesura is more prominent than the 3rd-foot one).

3

Thank you mwh,

Your comment makes perfect sense to me and that will make it much easier for me going forward.

Also, I forgot to put in the caesura, but I did put it after Thisbe when scanning.