Brasenose Student Beth Parker, who has just finished her first year studying Classics, has won the prestigious Chancellor's Latin Prize for Verse.
Beth comments on her experience:
"The passage set for Latin lyric verse this year was Leigh Hunt’s The Nile, which I translated into Latin Sapphics in the style of Horace. The principal challenge for me was maintaining the spirit of the often abstract original whilst adapting it to the linguistic and metrical subtleties which make the Latin language such a delight to work with.
I consider myself fortunate to have attended one of the few state schools in the country offering Latin at GCSE and A-Level, where my two enormously inspirational Latin teachers encouraged me to pursue my passion for Classics. It was in order to thank them when I left school last year that I first began to compose Latin poetry.
I attribute my success in obtaining this prize in large part to my involvement in the Oxford Ancient Languages Society, a student-run society that promotes engagement with and teaching of ancient languages through their active use – the target language is also the language of instruction, and alongside reading ancient texts we discuss and analyse them in their original language. The Active Method (which has been introduced with great success as the principal method of language instruction at Jesus and Harris Manchester College, which maintain close links with the OALS) has been instrumental in developing my enjoyment of and ability to write in Latin.
I have enjoyed a brilliant first year at Brasenose; the welcoming atmosphere meant that I was immediately able to connect with like-minded people, and our cohort of Classics students has bonded closely. Thus, we have been able to support each other socially and academically, as well as making the most of our tutorials together (including the one that exceeded 2½ hours because we just couldn’t stop talking about Vergil…!)
I would like to thank all my friends in the OALS who have supported me and encouraged my attempts at versification (and tolerated my inability to email them in anything other than Latin verse). Thank you also to my excellent tutors this year – both at Brasenose and elsewhere – particularly Professor Armand D’Angour, who has instructed me in Latin verse composition for the past two terms."
Congratulations to Beth for this acheivement. Read more about Classics at Brasenose College.
Note: Picture is of Beth's library-dwelling alter-ego!