Latin turns to Poetry

Hard to tell if I will ever need to know how poetic meter works in Latin, but that is what we are learning now, including Ovid, Vergil, and some racy poems by Catallus. Last quiz tomorrow. Two more exams, with the final on August 10. I'm planning a pizza party to celebrate, since the class has dwindled from 27 to 11 students. I feel like a survivor! Indeed, I've really learned a ton and it has been hard, hard work.

I am planning my first research trip, to Venice and other cities in Italy. Then I'll do research here and plan a trip to London. My goal is to get as much traveling this fall as I can, and stay in New Haven in the spring.

Latin becomes Prosaic

It is now the second term of Intensive summer Latin. Despite the excellent teacher being replaced by some lesser instructors, and my not feeling so great (and skipping class strategically) the Latin is beginning to sink in. We've moved from grammar to simple prose and play reading, which is not only more enjoyable but more applicable to how I'll actually use Latin. I am not about to begin translating my favorite novels into Latin, but I look forward to stumbling through Petrarch's Africa for practice. It describes a real Triumph, of Scipio Africanus, as his Trionfi does not. Nevertheless, Renaissance artists ignored it as much as they relished illustrating i Trionfi.