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Preparing Students to Read the Aeneid
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by Elizabeth Dawson
East Chapel Hill High School
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
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Background Reading
No matter what, beginning to study the Aeneid is daunting for most students. Its complexity, combined with the number of lines required by the AP syllabus, may well leave a novice AP student weak in the knees. Although the text will always seem intimidating at first, there are preparatory steps that will help students increase their comfort level as they embark on reading the epic.
It is helpful to be thinking of what background students will need long before they start reading the Aeneid, so that you can treat various topics as they dovetail with work you do at the lower levels. If at all possible, it is a good idea to expose students to dactylic hexameter by reading some other, easier author first. Martial is an appealing choice because his poems are short and his humor is quirky. In even a brief unit on Martial, you can introduce scansion and a few basic poetic figures, thereby beginning to show students that they have to retrain their eyes to look at the lines in a new way.
If you have time, the best preparation for reading Vergil is to teach a unit on Ovid myths. Using shorter adaptations, like those found in Latin for Americans: Second Book, simplifies the task for the novice reader, while introducing all of the essentials in the form of well-known stories. The comfort level that students develop with the techniques and conventions of poetry will significantly reduce their initial anxiety when confronting the Aeneid.
The Aeneid in Historical Context
It is also useful to keep the goal of reading the Aeneid in the back of your mind as you gradually introduce students to mythology in earlier levels. Latin I students love to reenact the judgment of Paris and the wanderings of Aeneas. You don't have to go into details of the story at length in order to establish a link in students' minds between Troy, Lavinium, Alba Longa, and Rome.
Roman history is always complex and difficult to present coherently amidst the pressing demands of learning the language. However, you can teach the Roman idea of sacrifice for the state in the early stories, then examine the decline of the Republic with an eye to the ills that Augustus ultimately corrected. Of course, it is important to establish a sharper historical focus before you start the Aeneid, but much of the material can be filtered in during the early weeks via student reports on Augustus's reforms and building program. The purpose and intent of the poem sink in as students become immersed in the story.
Finally, expose your students to the pleasures of reading Vergil aloud. There are a number of good tapes available, which will help students listen and respond orally to the opening lines. Memorizing the first 11 lines is a valuable, useful oral practice. After that, ask one student per day to present a prepared reading of perhaps 10 lines, which will allow students to develop confidence and the ability to read expressively.
Most of all, build up your students' excitement about reading the Aeneid. Tell them that it will be a major and worthwhile intellectual accomplishment, as indeed it is.
Betsy Dawson received degrees in classics from Wellesley College (BA) and Harvard University (MA). In 36 years of Latin teaching, she has taught at Milton Academy, the University of Auckland (New Zealand), the Carolina Friends School, Chapel Hill High School, and East Chapel Hill High School.
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