Page 412 of Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar offers the first eight lines of Charles Kingsley's Andromeda as an example of hexameter verse in English. It is such a good example that I went to the trouble of scanning the entire poem. As I read this poem, I can get the sound of hexameter in my ear and, eventually, filter out the sing-song element for an adequate reading. It is preparation for reading the Latin of Ovid or Virgil.

And so I've put the poem here with my notation and a series of d's and s's indicating the order of dactyls and spondees for every line. I have tried to prepare the poem visually for easy reading: Each hexameter verse is placed on one line (unlike the original publication); each foot after the first starts with a |; a bit of space is inserted between verses whenever a breath seems appropriate; and, I have advanced to a new page at breaks in the narrative.

There are a few notes on the page after the end of the poem.

—John H Shaver