BOOK 5, Part 1: Calypso
Video/Music
My name is Calypso
And I have lived alone I live on an island And I waken to the dawn A long time ago I watched him struggle with the sea I knew that he was drowning And I brought him into me Now today Come morning light He sails away After one last night I let him go. |
My name is Calypso
My garden overflows Thick and wild and hidden Is the sweetness there that grows My hair it blows long As I sing into the wind My name is Calypso And I have lived alone I live on an island I tell of nights Where I could taste the salt on his skin Salt of the waves And of tears And though he, pulled away I kept him here for years I let him go |
My name is Calypso
I have let him go In the dawn he sails away To be gone forever more And the waves will take him in again But he'll know their ways now I will stand upon the shore With a clean heart And my song in the wind The sand will sting my feet And the sky will burn It's a lonely time ahead I do not ask him to return I let him go I let him go |
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Basics on Dactylic Hexameter
Dactylic Hexameter is a very important meter in Greek and Latin poetry. It is especially associated with epic poetry, and so is referred to as "heroic". The very words "dactylic hexameter" often stand for epic poetry.
Why Dactyl?
Dactyl is the Greek for "finger". [Note: The Homeric epithet for the goddess Eos (Dawn) is rhododactylos or rosy-fingered.] There are 3 phalanges in a finger and, likewise, there are 3 parts of a dactyl. Presumably, the first phalanx is the longest in the ideal finger, while the others are shorter and about the same length, since long, short, short is the form of the dactyl foot. The phalanges here refer to the syllables; thus, there is a long syllable, followed by two short ones, at least in the basic form. Technically, a short syllable is one mora and a long is two morae in length of time.
Since the meter in question is dactylic hexameter, there are 6 sets of the dactyls. The dactylic foot is formed with one long followed by two short syllables. This may be represented with a long mark (for example, the underscore symbol _) followed by two short marks (e.g., U). Put together a dactylic foot can be written as _UU. Since we're discussing dactylic hexameter, a line of poetry written in dactylic hexameter could be written like this:
_UU_UU_UU_UU_UU_UU. If you count, you'll see 6 underscores and 12 Us, making up six feet.
However, dactylic hexameter lines can also be composed using substitutions for the dactyls. (Remember: The dactyl, as stated above, is one long and two short or, converted to morae, 4 morae.) A long is two morae, so a dactyl, which is the equivalent of two longs, is four moraelong.
Thus, the meter known as spondee (represented as two underscores: _ _), which is also the equivalent of 4 morae, can substitute for a dactyl. In this case, there would be two syllables and both would be long, rather than three syllables. In contrast with the other five feet, the last foot of the line of dactylic hexameter is usually not a dactyl.
It may be a spondee (_ _) or a shortened spondee, with only 3 morae. In a shortened spondee, there would be two syllables, the first long and the second short (_ U).
In addition to the actual form of the line of the dactylic hexameter, there are various conventions about where substitutions are likely and where word and syllable breaks should occur.
Dactylic hexameter describes Homeric epic meter (Iliad and Odyssey) and that of Vergil's (Aeneid). It is also used in shorter poetry. In (Yale U Press, 1988), Sara Mack discusses Ovid's 2 meters, dactylic hexameter and elegiac couplets. Ovid uses the dactylic hexameter for his Metamorphoses.
Mack describes a metrical foot as like a whole note, the long syllable as like a half note and the short syllables as like quarter notes. This (half note, quarter note, quarter note) seems a very useful description for understanding a dactylic foot.
Go to site to read in its entirety.
Dactylic Hexameter is a very important meter in Greek and Latin poetry. It is especially associated with epic poetry, and so is referred to as "heroic". The very words "dactylic hexameter" often stand for epic poetry.
Why Dactyl?
Dactyl is the Greek for "finger". [Note: The Homeric epithet for the goddess Eos (Dawn) is rhododactylos or rosy-fingered.] There are 3 phalanges in a finger and, likewise, there are 3 parts of a dactyl. Presumably, the first phalanx is the longest in the ideal finger, while the others are shorter and about the same length, since long, short, short is the form of the dactyl foot. The phalanges here refer to the syllables; thus, there is a long syllable, followed by two short ones, at least in the basic form. Technically, a short syllable is one mora and a long is two morae in length of time.
Since the meter in question is dactylic hexameter, there are 6 sets of the dactyls. The dactylic foot is formed with one long followed by two short syllables. This may be represented with a long mark (for example, the underscore symbol _) followed by two short marks (e.g., U). Put together a dactylic foot can be written as _UU. Since we're discussing dactylic hexameter, a line of poetry written in dactylic hexameter could be written like this:
_UU_UU_UU_UU_UU_UU. If you count, you'll see 6 underscores and 12 Us, making up six feet.
However, dactylic hexameter lines can also be composed using substitutions for the dactyls. (Remember: The dactyl, as stated above, is one long and two short or, converted to morae, 4 morae.) A long is two morae, so a dactyl, which is the equivalent of two longs, is four moraelong.
Thus, the meter known as spondee (represented as two underscores: _ _), which is also the equivalent of 4 morae, can substitute for a dactyl. In this case, there would be two syllables and both would be long, rather than three syllables. In contrast with the other five feet, the last foot of the line of dactylic hexameter is usually not a dactyl.
It may be a spondee (_ _) or a shortened spondee, with only 3 morae. In a shortened spondee, there would be two syllables, the first long and the second short (_ U).
In addition to the actual form of the line of the dactylic hexameter, there are various conventions about where substitutions are likely and where word and syllable breaks should occur.
Dactylic hexameter describes Homeric epic meter (Iliad and Odyssey) and that of Vergil's (Aeneid). It is also used in shorter poetry. In (Yale U Press, 1988), Sara Mack discusses Ovid's 2 meters, dactylic hexameter and elegiac couplets. Ovid uses the dactylic hexameter for his Metamorphoses.
Mack describes a metrical foot as like a whole note, the long syllable as like a half note and the short syllables as like quarter notes. This (half note, quarter note, quarter note) seems a very useful description for understanding a dactylic foot.
Go to site to read in its entirety.
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ândra moi / ênnepe, / Moûsa, po/lûtropon, / hôs mala / pôlla "''"
plângthe, e/peî Troî/ês hiër/ôn ptoli/êthron e/pêrse; "''"
pôllôn / d'ânthrô/pôn iden / âstea / kaî noön / êgnô,
pôlla d'ho / g'ên pôn/tô pathen / âlgea / hôn kata / thûmon
ârnumen/ôs hên / tê psûch/ên kaî / nôston he/taîrôn.
âll' oûd' / hôs heta/roûs êr/rûsato, / îëmen/ôs per;
aûtôn / gâr spheter/êsin a/tâsthali/eîsin o/lônto,
nêpioi, / hoî kata / boûs hyper/îonos / êëli/oîo
êsthion; / aûtar ho / toîsin a/pheîleto / nôstimon / êmar.
tôn hamo/thên ge, the/â, thuga/têr Dios, / eîpe kai / hêmîn.
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plângthe, e/peî Troî/ês hiër/ôn ptoli/êthron e/pêrse; "''"
pôllôn / d'ânthrô/pôn iden / âstea / kaî noön / êgnô,
pôlla d'ho / g'ên pôn/tô pathen / âlgea / hôn kata / thûmon
ârnumen/ôs hên / tê psûch/ên kaî / nôston he/taîrôn.
âll' oûd' / hôs heta/roûs êr/rûsato, / îëmen/ôs per;
aûtôn / gâr spheter/êsin a/tâsthali/eîsin o/lônto,
nêpioi, / hoî kata / boûs hyper/îonos / êëli/oîo
êsthion; / aûtar ho / toîsin a/pheîleto / nôstimon / êmar.
tôn hamo/thên ge, the/â, thuga/têr Dios, / eîpe kai / hêmîn.
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Téll mé,/ Múse, of the / mán versa/tíle and re/soúrceful, who / wándered
mány a / seá-míle,/ áfter he / ránsácked / Tróy's holy / cíty.
Mány the / mén whóse / tówns he ob/sérved, whóse / mínds he dis/cóvered,
mány the / paíns in his / heárt hé / súffered tra/vérsing the / seáwáy,
fíghting for / hís ówn / lífe and a / wáy báck / hóme for his / cómrádes.
Nót even / só did he / sáve his com/pánions, as / múch as he / wíshed to,
fór by their / ówn mád / réckléss/néss they were / broúght to des/trúction,
chíldísh / foóls--they de/cíded to / eát up the / cóws of the / hígh lord
Hélios, / whó thén / toók from the / mén theír / dáy of re/túrning.
Éven for / ús, holy / daúghter of / Zeús, stárt / thére to re/coúnt thís.
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mány a / seá-míle,/ áfter he / ránsácked / Tróy's holy / cíty.
Mány the / mén whóse / tówns he ob/sérved, whóse / mínds he dis/cóvered,
mány the / paíns in his / heárt hé / súffered tra/vérsing the / seáwáy,
fíghting for / hís ówn / lífe and a / wáy báck / hóme for his / cómrádes.
Nót even / só did he / sáve his com/pánions, as / múch as he / wíshed to,
fór by their / ówn mád / réckléss/néss they were / broúght to des/trúction,
chíldísh / foóls--they de/cíded to / eát up the / cóws of the / hígh lord
Hélios, / whó thén / toók from the / mén theír / dáy of re/túrning.
Éven for / ús, holy / daúghter of / Zeús, stárt / thére to re/coúnt thís.
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The Rhythm of the Epic: Translating the Odyssey
The rhythm of the Homeric poems is based on a strict yet flexible meter called the dactylic hexameter. Each line contains six units or feet, each foot either a dactyl consisting of three syllables (heavy-light-light) or a spondee of two syllables (heavy-heavy), except the last foot, which always has two syllables and is either a spondee or a trochee (heavy-light).
The Greek verse is measured by quantity--the length of time it takes to say a syllable--while the English meter is based on stress, so the line I have used is accentual. However, the length of each syllable is also important in the overall rhythm of the English line.
Go to site to read in its entirety.
The rhythm of the Homeric poems is based on a strict yet flexible meter called the dactylic hexameter. Each line contains six units or feet, each foot either a dactyl consisting of three syllables (heavy-light-light) or a spondee of two syllables (heavy-heavy), except the last foot, which always has two syllables and is either a spondee or a trochee (heavy-light).
The Greek verse is measured by quantity--the length of time it takes to say a syllable--while the English meter is based on stress, so the line I have used is accentual. However, the length of each syllable is also important in the overall rhythm of the English line.
Go to site to read in its entirety.