understanding

'It is usually only when we are faced with a foreign language or verse form that we have to rely on the mechanical use of explicit formulations; and we then find ourselves envying those who have never expereienced the need to learn them as rules. Renaissance scholars who were able to scan Latin verse only by dint of long labour marvelled at Cicero's description of the uneducated Roman populace jeering at an actor who committed a metrical blunder.' Derek Attridge, The Rhythms of English Poetry.

QQ. i do it for english too