Kenney_and_Clausen B.M.W.(eds.) - Get a Free Blog

METRICAL APPENDIX
should be disregarded; (ii) a single consonant between two vowels or diphthongs
belongs to the succeeding syllable (thuspecus-*pe—cus; genus omne-^ge—nu—som—ne)}
(iii) of two or more successive consonants, at least one belongs to the preceding syllable
(thus pectus->pec—tus; also nulla spes -+nul—las—pes, though short final vowels are
normally avoided in this position), except as allowed for below.
Note: for this purpose h is disregarded; x and ^ count as double consonants, 'semiconsonantal
' i and u as consonants (except in the combination qu, regarded as a single
consonant).
To (iii) there is an important exception. In the case of the combination of a plosive
and liquid consonant (p, t, c, b, d, g followed by r or /), the syllabic division may be
made either between the consonants (e.g. pat—ris) or before them (e.g. pa—tris),
resulting in either a heavy or a light preceding syllable. However, when two such
consonants belong to different parts of a compound or to two different words, the
division is always made between them, giving a heavy preceding syllable (e.g. ablego^f
ah—lego, not a—blego; at rabidae-^at—rabidae, not a—trabidae). Lastly, when, after a
short final vowel, these consonants begin the next word, the division is nearly always
made before them, giving a light preceding syllable (e.g. plumbea glans ^-plum-be-aglans).
(C) ACCENT
The nature of the Latin word-accent (whether one of pitch or stress) and its importance
in the construction of verse are both matters of controversy: for a clear discussion
of the basic problems see Wilkinson under (4) below, 89-96, 221-36. By way of
practical guidance in reading Latin verse, all that may be said is that for the presentday
English speaker, accustomed to a naturalistic manner of reading poetry, it will
sound as strange (and monotonous) to emphasize the heavy syllables of a metrical
structure (' Qualis Thesea iacuit cedente carina') as it does to read Shakespearian verse
with attention only to its iambic structure ('Now fs the winter 6f our dfscontent');
furthermore that, even in giving stress to the word-accent in Latin verse, heavy syllables
will generally coincide with accented syllables with sufficient frequency to ensure that
the metre is not forgotten - particularly at the beginning and end of many metres, as
in the hexameter quoted above. It should be remembered, however, that what sounds
natural is not thereby authentic, and that poetic delivery is highly susceptible to whims
of fashion, idiosyncrasy and affectation. Even now it is not uncommon criticism of a
Shakespearian actor that he 'mutilates' the shape of the verse by reading it as prose,
while recordings of Tennyson and Eliot reading their poetry already sound bizarre
(in different ways) to the modern ear.
937
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008