LATIN VERSE COMPOSITION: AN INTRODUCTORY LESSON PLAN

This article presents a two-day lesson plan for teachers who would like to incorporate basic Latin verse composition into their advanced high school classes or intermediate to advanced college courses. I begin with a brief introduction explaining why someone might want to do such a thing and what the goals of the lesson are. The lesson plan itself is divided into two parts. On Day 1 students derive necessary metrical rules themselves by close inspection of a Latin poem. On Day 2, with the careful guidance of their teacher; they produce their own Latin elegiac poem. I conclude with some further advice for teachers and a set of appendices for those who would like to take their verse composition further.