Latin Literature
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Complete course and exam information is available in the Course Description.
This course may follow one of three syllabi: Catullus-Cicero, Catullus-Horace, or Catullus-Ovid. Students are tested on their ability to read, translate, understand, analyze, and interpret the required poems of Catullus (approximately 800 lines) along with approximately 500 lines of selections from the second author studied. The Latin Literature course is designed to be taken only once.
Abilities Tested
The AP Latin Exam will test some or all of the following abilities:
- To write a literal English translation of a Latin passage on the syllabus
- To explicate specific words or phrases in context
- To identify the context and significance of short excerpts from texts listed in the chosen syllabus
- To identify and analyze characteristic or noteworthy features of the authors' modes of expression, including their use of imagery, figures of speech, sound effects, and metrical effects (in poetry only), as seen in specific passages
- To discuss particular motifs or general themes not only suggested by passages but also relevant to other selections
- To analyze and discuss structure and to demonstrate an awareness of the features used in the construction of a poem or an argument
- To scan the meters specified in the syllabus
Reading and Translation
You should be given extensive practice in translating literally and reading at sight so that your translations not only are accurate and precise, but also make sense in English. Teachers should not feel bound to limit their syllabus to the selections required for the examination. If time and the preparation of their students allow it, teachers may want to read additional selections of their own choosing.
The instructions for the translation questions, "translate as literally as possible," call for a translation that is accurate and precise. In some cases an idiom may be translated in a way that makes sense in English but is rather loose compared to the Latin construction. In general, however, you should remember that:
- The tense, voice, number, and mood of verbs need to be translated literally.
- Subject-verb agreement must be correct.
- Participles should be rendered precisely with regard to tense and voice.
- Ablative absolutes may be rendered literally or as subordinate clauses; however, the tense and number of the participle must be rendered accurately.
- Historical present is acceptable as long as it is used consistently throughout the passage.
Selections from the Oxford editions of Catullus, Cicero, Horace, and Ovid appear on the examination.
Writing Free-Response Essays
Some questions in the free-response section of the examination instruct you to write either a short essay or a long essay that is "well developed." In both instances, you may be asked to:
- Interpret the text
- Analyze critical statements about the text
- Compare and contrast different aspects of the form, structure, or content of the text
- Evaluate some issue of importance relevant to the text
Essays receiving the highest scores are analytical and interpretive rather than merely descriptive or narrative. In both types of essays, you must refer specifically to the Latin throughout the passage or poem to support your statements. When you are asked to refer specifically to the Latin, you must write out the Latin and/or cite line numbers. You must also translate, accurately paraphrase, or otherwise make clear in your discussion that you understand the Latin. When referring to a relatively long portion of Latin text, you may either cite the line numbers or use ellipsis ("word . . . word"). When referring only to words or phrases, you should write them out. The responsibility rests with you to convince the reader that you are drawing conclusions from the Latin text and not from a general recall of the passage.
When writing your essays, you should:
- Use the Latin most appropriate to supporting your argument and cite it properly.
- Understand that referring to the Latin "throughout" the poem or passage means that you should, at a minimum, use material from the beginning, middle, and end of the text.
- Connect the cited Latin to the point that you are making and explain the connection.
- Omit information you have learned when it is not relevant to the specific question.
- Refer to a figure of speech or aspect of meter only when it can be used to make your analysis of the passage stronger, unless the question specifically asks you to do so.
- Avoid making figures of speech, scansion, or sound effects the basis or major focus of your essays.
- Refer to other poems or passages by the same author only if there is a strong connection that strengthens the point you are making.
Meter, Scansion, and Figures of Speech
Scansion of the following meters is expected where appropriate: Alcaic, Sapphic, dactylic hexameter, the elegiac couplet, and the hendecasyllabic line. Scansion includes indicating elision and the metrical quantities of the syllables. (The last syllable of the line in all meters may be marked long.) You should be familiar with the figures of speech commonly used by Catullus and either Cicero, Horace, or Ovid.
Roman Culture in the Latin Literature Course
You should be familiar with the cultural, social, and political context of the literature on the syllabus. You should also have an understanding of the development of Latin lyric and elegiac poetry as literary genres. If you have opted for the Catullus-Cicero syllabus, you should also be familiar with Ciceronian style in particular and oratorical technique in general. Roman culture, society, and politics may be taught in a variety of ways; teachers need not introduce a separate unit on this material but may wish to incorporate it, where appropriate, into their discussions of the literature.
