Dickinson Latin Workshop
Saturday, March 23, 2013

Prof. Andrew Becker (Virginia Tech)

Sound (and Sometimes Sense) in Latin Verses: Accents, Rhythms, Meters, Poems

Place: Dickinson College, Tome 115, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.

A Practical Workshop on Vergil’s hexameters, Ovid’s elegiacs, Horace’s lyrics, and Catullan hendecasyllables.
1. Making it Sing with numerosus Horatius (‘many-measured Horace’): Horace’s main meters—Alcaic, Sapphic, Asclepiadean.
2. altisonum Maronem (‘deeply/loftily resonant Maro’): In Search of the Sounds of Vergil’s hexameters
3. unum surripuisse pedem (‘[Cupid is said] to have snatched away one foot’): Ovid’s elegiac couplets
4. Adeste, hendecasyllabi (‘Come on, hendecasyllables!’): Catullus’s favored meter

This workshop will be of interest primarily to Latin teachers, but others are more than welcome to attend. The workshop is free of charge, but to order materials and food we need to have an accurate count of attendees. For directions and pre-registration please contact Terri Blumenthal: blumentt@dickinson.edu, by March 9, 2011.
Professor Becker is Associate Professor of Latin, Greek, and Classical Studies in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at Virginia Tech. He specializes in the study of Greek and Latin poetry, with special emphasis on metrics and performance, and is a recipient of the William E. Wine Award, which recognizes “a history of university teaching excellence” at VT. His publications include “Non Oculis Sed Auribus: The Ancient Schoolroom and Learning to Hear the Latin Hexameter” (Classical Journal 2004), “Listening to Lyric: Accent and Ictus in the Latin Sapphic Stanza” (Classical World 2010), and “Rhythm in a Sinuous Stanza: The Anatomy and Acoustic Contour of the Latin Alcaic” (American Journal of Philology, 2012). Professor Becker has also served as President of the Classical Association of Virginia (2010-2012).

Act 48: The Dickinson Department of Classical Studies is an approved provider of professional development opportunities under Pennsylvania Act 48. Those who complete our workshops receive 5 hours of Act 48 credit.