GCSE Latin: Scanning Latin Verse

Quantity

Each syllable is scanned long (_) or short (^).

A vowel followed by two or more consonants (even if not in the same word) is scanned long. e.g. fessum puerum is scanned _ _. When a double conconant includes l or r, the syllable may be long or short. Otherwise the "natural" length of the vowel will determine the quantity, for example puella in the nominitive is scanned short, whereas in the ablative puella is scanned long. Two vowels together in one syllable are called a diphthong; this scans long, for example audiuntur puellae would scan _ ^ _ _ ^ _ _. Note the ae scans long, _.

Elision

If a syllable is elided, it is ignored for the purposes of scansion. (It is however, pronounced normally when read aloud.) This happens when a word ending in -am, -em, -um or any vowel is directly followed by any vowel or h- at the start of the next word.
e.g.
(1) t(um) omnibus
(2) formos(a) est
(3) ill(am) haec

Metre

A metrical unit, or foot consists of either _ ^ ^ (a dactyl) or _ _ (a spondee). There are six feet in a hexameter and five feet in a pentameter. A common form is elegiac couplets, in which hexameers and pentameters alternate. The fifth foot of a hexameter is always a dactyl. A caesura (word break) always occurs misway through the third foot. A pentameter always ends with two dactyls and a single syllable. Before this is a caesura, up to which there are two whole feet and a single syllable.