Epode new form, at least in Latin literature, and that he was imitating the effect of the iambic distichs invented by Archilochus. Accordingly, we find the first ten of these epodes composed in alternate verses of iambic trimeter and iambic dimeter, as at, for example, "Epode" 5.1–2: In the seven remaining epodes Horace diversified the measures, while retaining the general character of the distich. This group of poems belongs mostly to the early youth of the poet, and displays a truculence and a controversial heat which are absent from his more mature writings. As he was imitating Archilochus in form, he
Thomas Watson (poet) Thomas Watson (poet) Thomas Watson (1555–1592) was an English poet and translator, and the pioneer of the English madrigal. His lyrics aside, he wrote largely in Latin, being the first to translate Sophocles' "Antigone" from the Greek. His incorporation of Italianate forms into English lyric verse influenced a generation of English writers, including Shakespeare, who was referred to in 1595 by William Covell as "Watson's heyre" [heir]. He wrote both English and Latin compositions, and was particularly admired for the ones in Latin. His unusual 18-line sonnets were influential, although the form was not generally imitated. Thomas Watson was born