When teaching, say, the Archpoet's 'Confession' (which begins 'Estuans intrinsecus ira vehementi'), I point out that if a medieval Latin poem can be sung to the melody of 'Good King Wenceslas', the poem is written in the Goliardic stanza.

(Try it out yourselves. A photo of the first three stanzas, from Raby's 'Oxford Book of Medieval Latin Verse', is attached to this post.)

#GoodKingWenceslas #MedievalLatin #Goliardic #Archpoet

This being the 'feast of Stephen', I thought I'd share a tip I have used when teaching the Goliardic stanza in medieval Latin poetry.

The story in the hymn 'Good King Wenceslas' takes place on 26 December, and while not all that many American undergraduates know the words of the hymn, the melody is generally recognisable. The hymn itself is Victorian, with the melody taken from a 16th c collection of Latin songs, though the melody is older....

#GoodKingWenceslas #Goliardic #MedievalLatin