Today's question for the nerds

[swan_tower]

When writing a poem in (my best English approximation of) a classical Latin meter, upon an ancient Roman topic, do I treat the proper names:

1) according to how we tend to pronounce them in English and where the stress falls, or

2) according to the Latin scansion rules of which syllables are short vs. long?

In other words, is "Augusta" stressed on the second syllable, or is it two long syllables followed by a short one, for the purposes of that poem's scansion?

(originally posted at Swan Tower: https://is.gd/Lcf5kG)

Comments

[conuly]

If it's in English, do it with English rules.

[swan_tower]

Ah, but when it's only mostly in English . . . ?

[kylinn]

Since the poem is in English, go with English pronunciation. Much less confusing for your readers / listeners that way. :-)

[swan_tower]

Thing is -- and I could have clarified this in the original post -- the metrical rules in play are such that a reader who doesn't know Latin is unlikely to even realize the poem is metered to begin with (the pattern isn't consistent enough to stand out). So it won't read awkwardly to them; it's the Latin-knowing readers who might potentially go "wait, is this in elegiac couplets?" and notice which way I went.

[genarti]

I would say, do it English-style unless what you want to do is to use the meter to force readers to pronounce the names Latin-style (in which case be aware that some people still simply won't).

[swan_tower]

See the comment above re: the meter; somebody who doesn't know how to scan elegiac couplets is unlikely to realize the poem is metrical in the first place.