Sunday, May 20, 2012

Furor Poeticus

This little poem comes from the distichs of Publius Faustus Andrelinus (c. 1460-1518). You can find his hecatodistichon, his "hundred distichs," at Google Books.

Furor Poeticus
Vatibus aeternis caelo descendit ab alto
Ad nova divinus facta canenda furor.


The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. There are only two words in this poem not on the DCC list:

dīvīnus -a -um - divine, belonging to the gods
poēticus -a -um - poetic, characteristic of poets

ā, ab, abs: from, by (+abl.)
ad: to, up to, towards (+acc.)
aeternus -a -um: everlasting, eternal
altus -a -um: high, lofty; deep
caelum -ī n.: sky, heavens
cano canere cecinī cantum: sing
dēscendo -ere -scendi -scēnsum: climb down, descend
facio facere fēcī factum: do, make
furor -ōris m.: rage, fury
novus -a -um: new
vates -is m.: poet, bard