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Latin Literature Course Perspective
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by Margaret A. Brucia
Latin Teacher
AP Latin
Earl L. Vandermeulen High School
Port Jefferson, New York
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| | Please note: The official College Board® Course Description is available below in "More."
Clever, irreverent, creative, passionate, funny, introspective, and urbane, the poetry of Catullus can't help but appeal to high school students. His themes are their themes, and perhaps no ancient writer speaks to the young or bridges the time gap better. With selections from Catullus as an anchor, the AP Latin Literature course offers a choice of a second author: Horace, Ovid, or Cicero. Though their works vary greatly in style and content, each of these authors is an effective counterpart to Catullus.
How does a teacher choose among the options? Both the personal preference of the teacher and the nature and competence of the students are important determinants. Horace is not for the faint-hearted. If students rise to the challenge of translation and are linguistically agile, if they have a philosophical bent and thrive on discussions of abstract ideas, if they appreciate a satirical look at social manners, then introduce them to Horace's Odes and Satire 1.9. If they prefer to read mythological stories in fluid verse or the playful love poems of a poet whose love is poetry itself, then offer them Ovid's Metamorphoses and Amores. If they are intrigued by the history of Rome in the late Republic and enjoy fleshing out the subjects of Catullus's poems in the context of a historical lawsuit, then select Cicero's Pro Caelio.
No matter which option you choose, it is important to provide students with a discussion of literary genre, whether that involves the lyric poetry of Catullus or Horace, the elegiac poetry of Catullus or Ovid, the didactic hexameter of Ovid, the satirical hexameter of Horace, or the rhetorical prose of Cicero. Equally important is the teaching of relevant meter, including dactylic hexameter, elegiac couplet, the hendecasyllabic line, and both the Alcaic and Sapphic stanzas.
One of the most challenging features of the AP Latin Literature course is to balance literal, almost prosaically accurate translation with a rendition that captures the spirit and essence of the language of the poets (or of Cicero). How, for example, should a student render Horace's injunction, carpe diem? The familiar "seize the day" is not quite right. Horace's use of carpe reinforces the image of agriculture elsewhere in the poem and conveys the idea of plucking, as if one were nipping off a flower. Perhaps "pluck the day" captures the idea better. How does a student develop the ability to push the boundaries of language in an effort to capture the spirit of literature? Through practice and discussion in class.
Hand in hand with the ability to produce both literal and literary translations and to appreciate the difference is the ability to recognize and discuss the effect of the abundant figures of speech and stylistic devices that are characteristic of each author's style. Merely identifying a figure of speech is not enough; students must be encouraged to explain how it intensifies or adds new meaning to a particular poem or passage. Since many of the figures of speech are dependent on sound (for example, alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia) and word placement (for example, anaphora, chiasmus, synchesis), since each meter has its own rhythm, and since poetry and rhetorical prose were "performed" in antiquity, students should be encouraged to read aloud.
Although one's reaction to or interpretation of poetry is often personal, students must learn to clarify in their essays why they react in a particular way, or what makes them think the author means a particular thing. They must use appropriate Latin words or phrases from a given poem or passage to support their reactions and interpretations. It is important for students to know that they must provide convincing proof, directly from the poem or passage at hand, that justifies their observations.
The more exposure students have to AP-type questions, the better prepared they will be for the exam itself. Teachers who design classroom test questions commensurate with those on the AP Exam and grade them in a similar fashion do their students a great service. The Course Description for AP Latin contains an outline of the format of the exam. Samples of multiple-choice and free-response questions from past exams, as well as grading reports that explain how questions are scored, are other helpful resources. All of these publications are available at AP Central.
Because the multiple-choice section of the exam tests the student's ability to read Latin in general, questions based on passages written by authors other than those on the syllabus appear. (There is, however, always one syllabus-based Catullus passage.) The more students practice reading Latin at sight, the better they will perform on this section. An interactive Web site, called the AP Latin Multiple-Choice Item Writing Tutorial, explains through examples how to answer and how to write multiple-choice questions. It can be found in "See Also" below and is well worth a visit.
If Cicero is the selected author, it is important to provide students with a translation of the entire Pro Caelio, and it may be helpful to supply translations of the poetry on the syllabus to use as a basis for comparison. The Teacher's Guide to AP Latin, another College Board publication, offers a comprehensive list of texts, translations, and supplemental reading material for all the authors on the AP Latin Literature syllabus.
Reading the poetry of Catullus in conjunction with any of the other authors on the syllabus at the level of sophistication required by the AP Latin Literature course will broaden students' literary awareness and sensibilities. The rewards are immeasurable.
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