Summer \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Under the Lily Moon<\/p>\n
In the long ago faraway I took symbolic logic. \u00a0My freshman year of college. \u00a0I’d never struggled academically and German had already taken my measure in the first semester, so I was in no way ready for another problem.<\/p>\n
Larry Hackestaff was the professor, a philosopher who carried a six-pack of Bud attached to his belt through the plastic rings holding it together. \u00a0He was a young guy and he enjoyed the campus gatherings which were 1950’s typical boozy events with beer kegs and purple Jesus.<\/p>\n
Six weeks into symbolic logic my mind had turned to mush. \u00a0This stuff just didn’t make sense to me. \u00a0Not because I wasn’t trying. \u00a0I studied hard, but I wasn’t getting it. \u00a0After my debacle with German, my self-image was in trouble. \u00a0I took my green copy of our text to the library for one last go, before our first exam.<\/p>\n
Somehow that evening, the propositions and logical symbols and proofs and fallacies jumped off the page for first time and entered my brain. \u00a0Never worried about logic or my self-image in that way again.<\/p>\n
I’ve been studying Latin for 2 and a half years now, starting almost from scratch and aiming toward my goal of translating Ovid’s long poem, The Metamorphoses. \u00a0The grammar made sense to me; the vocabulary is not difficult, but the application of the two in translating Ovid has proved hard.<\/p>\n
Lots of reasons for that, reasons that reflect my still developing grasp of both grammar and vocabulary, the nature of poetic Latin and, I learned yesterday, my own overly analytical approach to the task.<\/p>\n
I wrote down every word and every possible meaning and case or conjugation. \u00a0Then I began to assemble a translation, matching the singular neuter ablatives with other singular neuter ablatives, checking out the various meanings of the words and locating verbal forms and their possible use in the sentence.<\/p>\n
This was satisfying in one respect. \u00a0I ended up with a lot of notes and information. \u00a0And I imagine that did me some good. \u00a0I had, however, missed the primary point Greg had been trying for over a year to get me to see.<\/p>\n
I saw it yesterday. \u00a0Look at the verb. \u00a0Translate it by itself. \u00a0Find a noun that is the subject of the verb. \u00a0Find an object if there is one. \u00a0Everything else modifies one of these three. \u00a0Greg has championed this “mechanical” style of approaching translation as best for novices.<\/p>\n
I believed him. \u00a0I thought I was doing that; but, I wasn’t. \u00a0Now, I see it. \u00a0The next 10 verses fell into place quickly. \u00a0It was an aha moment even greater than that one at Wabash all those years ago. \u00a0More satisfying, too.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summer \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Under the Lily Moon In the long ago faraway I took symbolic logic. \u00a0My freshman year of college. \u00a0I’d never struggled academically and German had already taken my measure … Continue reading Aha Moments<\/span>