De Seipso
Sunt quidam, qui me dicunt non esse poetam.
Et verum dicunt. Cur? Quia vera loquor.
Some say I am no Poet, ’tis no lye:
For I write nothing else than verity.
Source: John Owen (c.1564-c.1628), Epigrammata, 4.249. The English version is by Thomas Harvey. Meter: Elegiac. This paradoxical little epigram plays on the tradition that "poets are liars." So, when people criticize Owen and say that he is no poet, he readily agrees - he cannot be a poet, because he speaks the truth!
The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. All the words in this poem are on that list:
Source: John Owen (c.1564-c.1628), Epigrammata, 4.249. The English version is by Thomas Harvey. Meter: Elegiac. This paradoxical little epigram plays on the tradition that "poets are liars." So, when people criticize Owen and say that he is no poet, he readily agrees - he cannot be a poet, because he speaks the truth!
The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. All the words in this poem are on that list:
cūr: why?
dē: down from, about, concerning (+ abl.)
dīcō dīcere dīxī dictum: say; causam dicere, plead a case; diem dicere, appoint a day
ego meī mihi mē: I, me
et: and
ipse ipsa ipsum: him- her- itself
loquor loquī locūtus sum: speak, talk
nōn: not
poēta -ae m.: poet
qui quae quod: who, which, what / quis quid: who? what? which?
quī- quae- quoddam: a certain one, someone
quia: because
sui, sibi, sē: him- her- itself
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
vērus -a -um: true; vērē, truly
(Poussin: Inspiration of the Poet - full size poster; poster made with AutoMotivator)
