Latin Poetry Podcast

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Rhythmic Fluency – 1

In this guest podcast (first of a three-part series) Latinist and drummer Lance Piantaggini discusses the dactylic hexameter, and provides drum backing tracks (of the kind a jazz musician might use) for us to practice feeling the natural rhythms of the line. He pays special attention to the caesura, and argues for a mode of reading that follows the natural word accent, rather than the ictus. When reading a line of poetry, he argues, it is easy to become bogged down in isolated dactyls and spondees, and inadvertently stress the ictus, when what we have to do is fluidly connect each word and anticipate the natural pause.