READ OUT LOUD. Choose which marked text you prefer to practice with - macrons in verse form, or macrons in prose order, or accent marks in prose order, or focusing on the iambic meter. You will find materials for all of these options below. :-)
VERSE MACRONS. Here is the verse text with macrons:
Ut prorsus īret, fīlium rētrogradum
cancer monēbat; at fīlius: Ī prae, sequar.
Cuiquam nē obiiciās, quod tibi obiicī potest.
PROSE MACRONS. Here is the same text with macrons written out in prose word order:
Cancer fīlium rētrogradum monēbat ut prorsus īret. At fīlius: Prae ī; sequar. Nē cuiquam obiiciās, quod tibi obiicī potest.
STRESS (ACCENT) MARKS. Here is the prose text with accents, plus some color-coding for the words of three or more syllables (blue: penultimate stress; red: antepenultimate stress):
Cancer fílium retrógradum monébat ut prorsus iret. At fílius: Prae i; sequar. Ne cuiquam obiícias, quod tibi óbiici potest.
IAMBIC METER. Here is the verse text with some color coding to assist in the iambic meter. The disyllabic elements (iambs/spondees) are not marked, but the trisyllabic elements are color-coded: dactyls are red, anapests are purple, and tribrachs are green (as is any proceleusmaticus, although that is a rare creature); for more information, here are some Notes on Iambic Meter.
Ut pror·sus ī·ret, fī·lium· rētro·gradum
cancer· monē·bat; at· fīlius:· Ī prae,· sequar.
Cuiquam· n~ obiici·ās, quod· tib~ ob·iicī· potest.
IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source) by Walter Crane - see the left-hand side:
What follows is an unmarked version of the prose rendering to faciliate word searches:
Cancer filium retrogradum monebat ut prorsus iret. At filius: Prae i; sequar. Ne cuiquam obiicias, quod tibi obiici potest.
