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Scansion Basics

Listed below are the basic steps for scanning latin poetry, along with an example.

  1. Mark all elisions- This is when a word ends in a vowel or the letter M and begins in a vowel or the letter H. You can only pronounce the vowel starting on the second word

    Ex: “atque altae”, “multum ille”, “virum hunc”

  2. Mark all syllables containing a long vowel long

    ā is pronounced like the a in father

    ē is pronounced like the e in they

    ī is pronounced like the ee in sheep

    ō is pronounced like o in amore

    ū is pronounced like the oo in english root

  3. Mark all syllables containing a dipthong long

    Dipthong vowel combinations may be: ae, au, oe, ui, eu, ei

    Ex: “meī”, “audēo”, “deīnde”

  4. Mark all syllables that are followed by 2 consonants

    Ex: “āggerat”

  5. Mark everything else short, make sure there are 6 feet of dactyls and spondees.

    The fifth foot is almost always a dactyl and the sixth foot is almost always a spondee.

Remember, dactyls are long-short-short and spondees are short-short

Scansion Basics

Listed below are the basic steps for scanning latin poetry, along with an example.

  1. Mark all elisions- This is when a word ends in a vowel or the letter M and begins in a vowel or the letter H. You can only pronounce the vowel starting on the second word

    Ex: “atque altae”, “multum ille”, “virum hunc”

  2. Mark all syllables containing a long vowel long

    ā is pronounced like the a in father

    ē is pronounced like the e in they

    ī is pronounced like the ee in sheep

    ō is pronounced like o in amore

    ū is pronounced like the oo in english root

  3. Mark all syllables containing a dipthong long

    Dipthong vowel combinations may be: ae, au, oe, ui, eu, ei

    Ex: “meī”, “audēo”, “deīnde”

  4. Mark all syllables that are followed by 2 consonants

    Ex: “āggerat”

  5. Mark everything else short, make sure there are 6 feet of dactyls and spondees.

    The fifth foot is almost always a dactyl and the sixth foot is almost always a spondee.

Remember, dactyls are long-short-short and spondees are short-short

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