Rules

1. The elegiac couplet is composed of two lines, the first of which is a dactyllic hexameter (‘nuff said about that already).

2. The second line of the couplet is very similar to a dactyllic hexameter. It is composed of two hemiepes which are separated by a word break. An obligatory work break between metrical units is called a diaeresis.

3. A hemiepes consists of two dactyls plus one long syllable. It is considered to be a single metrical unit (i.e., we do not divide it up into feet).

4. In the first hemiepes of the second line of the couplet, spondees may be substituted for the dactyls (as in the hexameter).

5. In the second hemiepes, only dactyls occur. Thus the rhythm of the end of the elegiac couplet is always invariable: long-short-short-long-short-short-long.

Example: here is how the first lines of Ovid’s Ars Amatoria are scanned. Long syllables are bold, foot breaks are marked with a |, caesurae are marked with a ^, and diaereses are marked with a º .

Si quis in hoc artem populo non novit amandi,

   Hoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet.

Si qui si | n(h)o car | tem ^ po pu | lo non | no vi ta | man di,

   Hoc le ga tet lec to º car mi ne doc tu sa met.

On a separate sheet of paper, scan the following lines: