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Poetry Magnum Opus

Latin Verse - Liturgical Verse


Tinker

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Latin verse emerged in 4 AD most prominently as Liturgical verse, a Latin poetic alternative to the pagan classics. Latin poetry was modeled on Greek forms but the Latin adapted genres to their own needs. With the emergence of Christianity the poetry often developed from scripture and the tradition of the catholic mass. Much of the verse became liturgical, publically interactive with lines for both cleric and congregation. Secular verse on the other hand tended to be thematic.

The classic Latin taught by and to scholars was measured in quantitative meters borrowed from the Greek, but by the 4th century the accentual meter of the Latin became dominant.

Latin verse is mostly a genre of poetry rather than structured form. It is concerned more with instruction and inspiration than the frame of the lines. Whatever one might term it, it is a vast and rich treasure and a foundation for the poetry of the romance languages.

Eclogue VIII by Virgil

saepibus in nostris parvam te roscida mala
- dux ego vester eram - vidi cum matre legentem.                 
alter ab undecimo tum me iam acceperat annus,
iam fragilis poteram a terra contingere ramos.
ut vidi, ut perii, ut me malus abstulit error!
In our orchard-close I saw thee, a little girl with her mother--
I guided you both--gathering apples wet with dew:
the next year after eleven had just received me:
I could just reach the brittle branches from the ground.
As I saw, how I perished, how the fatal craze swept me away!

The sub genres of Latin Verse are:

           

Alcmanian Strophe           

Anthem Antiphon Benison or Blessing     Canticle Chant
Carpe Diem Charm Curse Dirge Elegy Epicedium
Evensong Fescennine Verse         Horatian Ode Hymn Imprecation Incantation                      
Invective Verse Invocation Lament Litany Lectio Divina             Matins
Nightsong Obsequy Pastoral Verse             Pastorela Planh Requiem
Saturnine Meter Serena Serenade Vespers

~~ © ~~ Poems by Judi Van Gorder ~~

For permission to use this work you can write to Tinker1111@icloud.com

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