From akriman@darwin.helios.nd.edu Sun Jul 30 17:21:29 2000 Received: from mxu2.u.washington.edu (mxu2.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.9]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW00.05/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id RAA54998 for ; Sun, 30 Jul 2000 17:21:28 -0700 Received: from mailspool.helios.nd.edu (mailspool.helios.nd.edu [129.74.250.7]) by mxu2.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW00.02/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id RAA00443 for ; Sun, 30 Jul 2000 17:21:28 -0700 Received: from darwin.helios.nd.edu (darwin.helios.nd.edu [129.74.250.114]) by mailspool.helios.nd.edu (8.9.2/8.9.2) with ESMTP id TAA27140 for ; Sun, 30 Jul 2000 19:21:23 -0500 (EST) Received: (from akriman@localhost) by darwin.helios.nd.edu (8.10.1/8.10.1/ND-cluster) id e6V0LOs24741 for classics@u.washington.edu; Sun, 30 Jul 2000 19:21:24 -0500 (EST) Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 19:21:24 -0500 (EST) From: Alfred M Kriman Message-Id: <200007310021.e6V0LOs24741@darwin.helios.nd.edu> To: classics@u.washington.edu Subject: MENTAL HEALTH WARNING: Sousa virus John Thorburn mentioned an introduction to dactylic hexameter at [[1]] Nefariously hidden on that page is a potent danger to your enjoyment of Virgil. Specifically, there is a WAV file of the Aeneid 1.1 croaked to the tune of the first two lyric lines of ``Stars and Stripes Forever.'' Here are some monitory remarks of a poor unfortunate friend of ours (DL) whose sensitive ears were waylaid in a surprise attack years ago [[3]]: > ... I heard it from a student who > told me that she had a great way to remember the meter of the Aeneid. > She then proceeded to sing the first line of Bk 1 to the tune of > "Stars and Stripes Forever" It was a horrible experience which > many years of mental suppression have failed to eradicate. What > she did was to hold the first syllable of "arma" to cover both ... >... > Naturally the spondees will have to be finessed a bit, but I can mournfully > assure you that the beginning of the Aeneid can indeed be permanently > ruined in one's mind in this way. Again, I will suggest that anyone > caught passing this mnemonic on to students be banished from the list > ---and perhaps also from the profession. > > As I told Alfred Kriman, I regretted my original posting, and I > deplored his lapse in taste in resuscitating it. And I regret > this posting too. My belated and renewed profound apologies to the list. I pass the baton or ostrakon or whatever to JT. BTW, while the first WAV file (at figure D) of the subject page does really appear to be missing, the "reading a" at figure E is available; the link code is merely corrupt. A minimal URL for it is 141.222.2.6/classics/courses/1998fall/cl202/resource/meter/readings/figerdga.wav [[1]] "Introduction to Dactylic Hexameter" 141.222.2.6/classics/courses/1998fall/cl202/resource/meter/metintro.html URL tightened, but with the best will in the world, it may still wrap for you. If you still have trouble after filling in anything that wrapped around the end, try replacing 141.222.2.6/ with http://www.skidmore.edu/academics/ Those who don't have wrap issues may follow http://www.skidmore.edu/classics/courses/1998fall/cl202/resource/meter/metintro.html [[2]] "_Aeneid_ 1.1 sung to the tune of _Stars and Stripes Forever_" 141.222.2.6/classics/courses/1998fall/cl202/resource/meter/readings/aensing.wav [[3]] David Lupher, Dec. 3, 1998 "Re: Sousa & Meter ditty" gopher://140.142.56.13/0R170507-173156-/public/classics/classics.log9812a .