How to scan poetry • hexameter • Aeneid I.1-7 • Ranieri's 5-stage scanning exercise

Download the audio file here: patreon.com/posts/35624777
See instructions below!

Companion video lesson in English explaning each step in detail:
youtu.be/l_kAX8E8GEs

Latin Pronunciation: Disyllables | Metrical Feet
youtu.be/fQYEm1eNxTM

Latin Pronunciation: Trisyllables | Metrical Feet
youtu.be/nQRhLI_Nh4I

Latin Pronunciation: Tetrasyllables | Metrical Feet
youtu.be/Laa2z4qxu74

Latin Pronunciation: Review of Metrical Feet
youtu.be/hCKYBI1XGy4

Romans *did* write with macrons! Video essay on Latin Apices & Hidden Quantity
youtu.be/D3bmLi1bKI0

Stop Stealing Latin's Vowels! Why are long vowels so important in Latin?
youtu.be/MVGGqzJ-g6g

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5-stage Poetry Scanning Exercise
00:00 Stage 1: monotone
01:05 Stage 2: ditonic inflexion
02:20 Stage 3: polytonal spoken inflexion over ditonic base
03:28 Stage 4: pseudo-spoken inflexion
04:28 Stage 5: recitation for performance

Purpose of the Verse Scanning Exercise: to acquire the natural rhythm of the Latin language (and thus its poetry) by damping the interference of one's native language tendencies through systematically deconstruction of the line into its most basic and important elements, rebuilding on top of this foundation the elements of normal speech.

N.B. Master each stage before proceeding to the next. Mastery of Stage 4 is required; mastery of Stage 5 is encouraged.

Stages explained
Stage 1: monotone (purpose: to divorce the verse from native language interference, permitting concentration on the language's most important building blocks: long and short syllables)
- determine the correct syllable scansion of a given text from poetry by underlining the long syllables with straight lines and the short syllables with curved lines
- tap out the rhythm
- produce the rhythm vocally in monotone with a singing syllable such as "la" or "ba"
- sing the line of poetry in monotone, maintaining precise rhythm; a metronome may help
Stage 2: ditonic inflexion (purpose: to reintroduce the second most important lexical feature of Latin, namely the stressed syllables, but using pitch instead of loudness; this helps the practitioner to further divorce the long syllables from the emphasized/stressed/accented syllables)
- add acute accent marks to the stressed syllables of the text
- as in stage 1, sing the line of poetry, but on the accented syllables raise the pitch by some interval (such as a third, but any will do that is comfortable)
Stage 3: polytonal spoken inflexion over ditonic base (purpose: to reintroduce the natural prosody of speech while still artificially raising the pitch on every accented syllable)
- as in stage 2, raise the pitch on the accented syllables, but allow the melody of the voice to flow as natural speech between highs and lows
- remember always to maintain strict long and short syllable rhythm; nothing is more important
Stage 4: pseudo-spoken inflexion (purpose: to recite each line with normal spoken melody)
- instead of raising the pitch on every accented syllable, allow normal lexical stress (which is not necessarily based on pitch, but is instead an increase in loudness) to take over
- maintain correct syllable quantity at all times, with robotic adherence to the rhythm
- each line should sound more or less like normal speech, expect that all natural pauses, either based on punctuation, or interpretation by the practitioner, will be ignored
Stage 5: recitation for performance (purpose: to perform the piece for an audience)
- rather than reciting each line of poetry as a strict rhythmical unit, break the text into phrases according to the natural pauses of narrative
- ensure each phrase is rhythmically correct
- techniques include pauses at punctuation, and no pause at the end of a line if the phrase continues semantically into the next line

The Verse Scanning Exercise is to be utilized for all poetry until Stage 4 can be attained at sight for any poem.