Understanding Catullus’s Poems

508 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Love in Catullus's poetry

Understanding Catullus’s Poems

Many of Catullus’s poems expressed Catullus’s love for his beloved Lesbia. In the first poem he is relishing her kisses and declaring the eternity of their love. The three later poems show him sadder and he accurse Lesbia of unfaithfulness yet still confesses his love for her. Catullus’s Poems are universal in time and are relevant to any time period. The particular time period that I am focusing on is today’s time period and how his essays are relevant to the modern reader. The two particular poems that I am going to be focusing on is number five and number seventy-two. Both are very emotional and could be reflected on today’s society.

In poem number five; Catullus is expressing his love for Lesbia. He says that their love that they posses is internal and how he is so fond of her kisses. After reading this poem you get the idea that they kiss very often and their kissing is the symbol of their love. This is relevant to today’s society with young couples starting a relationship. Once the relationship starts to become intimate, then they couple start to kiss more often and devote their love to one another. Although in no place in the text does it say if they were in a relationship or even married, you could infer that they were very intimate with each other.

The second poem, number seventy-two, discussed some a very significant aspect that exists in today’s society, which is cheating. Catullus accuses Lesbia of cheating in he couldn’t believe that she is doing this to him. “ ‘How,’ you may ask, ‘can this be?’ Such actions as yours excite increased violence of love.” He accuses her of putting the relationship in jeopardy and losing his love for her. You can’t help but feel sorry for Catullus is this scenario. He devotes his undying love to Lesbia and she cheats on him. Unfortunately, this is rather popular in today’s society. After time progresses in the relationship, intimacy start to decrease and the partners start to search for other sexual partners. This is the case with Catullus and Lesbia and how Lesbia is cheating on him.

The last poem is poem number seventy-five. In this poem, Catullus recognizes the sins that Lesbia has committed but still says that he “can never cut this love.” Some individuals still love their partner after what they did.

Show More
Related

  • Enslaving Nature of Love Exposed in Lucretius

    822 Words  | 2 Pages

    In order to prove the first premise, this essay will begin by examining the last line of the couplet which argues that the lovers are trying to "cure the secret sore". This line prompts the idea that love is a sore that needs a cure, but it also raises two questions: (1) why does the speaker call love a secret sore? And (2) how does the speaker use this imagery in the rest of the poem? In the poem's mythology, love is a sore left by Love's arrow (which probably alludes to Cupid's handy-work) as described in the first line of the poem: "he who feels the Fiery dart/ Of strong desire transfix his amorous heart". The "secret sore" can also refer to the idea that Love's wound is concealed (as an internal injury), and thus cannot be helped by external/physical remedies.  The speaker argues that even sex proves unprofitable in trying to cure love: "Our hands pull nothing from the parts they strain,/But wande...

    Read More

  • Deconstructing Fences Literary Devices

    1288 Words  | 3 Pages

    Greek theatre introduced the world to various terms that aren’t used quite often today, including the words peripeteia, anagonorisis, and parabasis. These fancy terms are used to describe common elements that are still seen to this day in theatrical productions. This includes a reversal of fortune and/or when the protagonist has an epiphany. Both are extremely common plot elements used often if not always in the present day writings. August Wilson’s incorporates many of these terms and more in his 1985 play, Fences.

    Read More

  • The Theme Of Love In Aphra Behn's To Lysander

    901 Words  | 2 Pages

    Aphra Behn’s, “To Lysander” is like a diary entry from a woman to a man, who has no intentions of returning the love that is being sent to him. Throughout the entire work there is a pattern of words that force the reader to assume there is the emotion of bitterness and discontent in the poets purpose. She has fallen in love with this man who she refers to as, “Lysander,” who never truly loves her, outside of the bedroom. Behn uses all thirteen stanzas to convey the idea that love is a natural thing when it flows equally from both sides, but if it is anything short of that, then the smitten one soon becomes a slave to the grip of loves power.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of William James's 'The Will To Believe'

    1103 Words  | 3 Pages

    many different factors and many times we can very easily believe something simply because it is

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Love In Sappho's 'Deathless Aphrodite'

    1804 Words  | 4 Pages

    Can a simple emotion such as love be regarded as one of the greatest weapons to create or attain power? It’s a renowned fact that human beings are by nature designed to need, crave, and even require love as part of their survival mechanisms. It comes to no surprise that one of the first accounts of antique poetry maintains love and the craving for it as its main theme; thereby, reinforcing the deep importance that it upholds in the lives of many individuals. Sappho’s “Deathless Aphrodite” clearly epitomizes the suffering and bitterness that arises from an unrequited love. In Sappho’s case, which portrays the case of many, she constantly finds herself in loneliness and despair for though she tries repeatedly, she is only let down recurrently as no one reciprocates the love she gives. It is only the Greek goddess Aphrodite, who holds

    Read More

  • Moral Conventionalism

    1886 Words  | 4 Pages

    Correspondence theory of truth determines a true statement by seeing how it relates and corresponds with the world

    Read More

  • Romeo and Juliet

    2868 Words  | 6 Pages

    Physical separation is a powerful obstacle that is sometimes faced by those bound to each other in love. It brings about intense emotional pain and can hinder any relationship with which true love is at its core. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 56 involved two lovers that experienced physical separation as a stumbling block in their kinship. The “sad interim” with which the lovers found themselves suffering caused the intensity of their love to vanish. With their love fading quickly, the two desired for “sweet love” to “renew thy force.” They wanted their love for each other to be “blunter be than appetite, / Which but today by feeding is allayed, / Tomorrow sharpened in his former might.” They wished for a love like hunger, constantly returning and needing to be quenched. However, due to their separation, the people’s “spirit of love” had become “a perpetual dullness.” The “hungry eyes” of their love would “wink with fullness” and had lost its potency and strength. In order to repair the love that had waned, the lovers longed to “Come daily to the banks” of the ocean so that the “Return of love” could come to their relationship, and they desired “this sad interim” to be “winter, which being full of care / Makes summer’s welcome thrice more wish’d.” Sonnet 56 was a sad story in which separation caused two people’s love to become dull and boring. The obstacle of separation was also evident in the relationship between Hero and Claudio found in the play, Much Ado About Nothing. At the beginning of the play, Don Pedro and some of his men returned to Messina after battling in war. One of the men that Don Pedro brought with him was young Claudio. Claudio was highly respected in the eyes of Don Pedro and had exceptional war performan...

    Read More

  • The Purpose of Love

    1592 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the pre-modern view, love relationships were regarded as necessary for society to flourish. In The Symposium, love relationships had a general progression. One must love a single body. Then, realize that all bodies are beautiful. Finally, one must love another for one’s soul, and not just for one’s body; as we age, this physical beauty of the body fades. Love of the soul would last for the lifetime. Loving one’s soul leads to beautiful discourse. This beautiful discourse allows us to experience beauty itself, the ideal goal sought after by Plato. Love was not simply an emotion either, but rather a spirit within that connected beings; it was the compulsion for the good in another. Now, like sex, it is everywhere, in our romantic comedies...

    Read More

  • The Lady's Dressing Room By Jonathan Swift

    1515 Words  | 4 Pages

    Of course, in those times, public mass education was not available and many people took what they read at face value. For example if we read only individual lines from the poem and took them as they meant, then there meanings are controversial. If we read the whole poem, we understand the true meaning behind it. For example, when Strephon dives his hand in hope to find something in Celia’s chest to dissociate all he found earlier, but discovers that he plunged his hand in stool. This is symbolic for men misunderstanding the value of women because they do the same things as them

    Read More

  • The Nature of Love Explored in Plato’s Symposium

    1231 Words  | 3 Pages

    In classical Greek literature the subject of love is commonly a prominent theme. However, throughout these varied texts the subject of Love becomes a multi-faceted being. From this common occurrence in literature we can assume that this subject had a large impact on day-to-day life. One text that explores the many faces of love in everyday life is Plato’s Symposium. In this text we hear a number of views on the subject of love and what the true nature of love is. This essay will focus on a speech by Pausanius. Pausanius’s speech concentrates on the goddess Aphrodite. In particular he looks at her two forms, as a promoter of “Celestial Love” as well as “Common Love.” This idea of “Common Love” can be seen in a real life context in the tragedy “Hippolytus” by Euripides. This brings the philosophical views made by Pausanius into a real-life context.

    Read More

  • Sonnet XVII, by Pablo Neruda

    1177 Words  | 3 Pages

    In “Sonnet XVII,” the text begins by expressing the ways in which the narrator does not love, superficially. The narrator is captivated by his object of affection, and her inner beauty is of the upmost significance. The poem shows the narrator’s utter helplessness and vulnerability because it is characterized by raw emotions rather than logic. It then sculpts the image that the love created is so personal that the narrator is alone in his enchantment. Therefore, he is ultimately isolated because no one can fathom the love he is encountering. The narrator unveils his private thoughts, leaving him exposed and susceptible to ridicule and speculation. However, as the sonnet advances toward an end, it displays the true heartfelt description of love and finally shows how two people unite as one in an overwhelming intimacy.

    Read More

  • The New Colossus Poem Analysis

    425 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus and the short story, “The Melting Pot” by Anna Quindlen, both are about immigration, and view them similar and different.

    Read More

  • Importance Of Operational Planning

    825 Words  | 2 Pages

    Operational plans can be established once a strategic plan has been set because the operations plans feed into the strategic plans. When operational plans are being established, several factors and pieces of information come into play in various decisions. For example, if Starbucks is making an operational plan it will take into consideration the competition, the price for which they get their ingredients, and the price for which they will sell their product. If the competition’s beverage is not as good, and Starbucks is getting their ingredients cheaper than the competition, the price Starbucks puts their product at can become an operation plan. Granted organizations might not be doing this daily, but more quarterly. An operational plan is, “specific plans for low level and day-to-day activities” (Mullane, 2015). Operational plans are the plans that keep the organization moving in the direction it wants to

    Read More

  • Accounting Personal Statement

    736 Words  | 2 Pages

    At a glance, accounting might appear as a repetitive cycle of preparing and examining financial statements. However, a brief exposure to accounting has taught me how chaotic it can be for accountants. An accountant captures and represents the information of businesses. By reviewing financial operations, an accountant helps a business run efficiently. This profession can be intellectually stimulating and rewarding. After learning about accounting, I cannot help but be interested and desire to work toward a degree in accountancy. In my studies, I have learned accountants require a plethora of qualities to be successful. And to mature from a student to a professional, I must resolve to strengthen my weaknesses. There is much I must learn and achieve, but a degree in accounting is well worth the time spent.

    Read More

  • Situational Theory Essay

    1170 Words  | 3 Pages

    By remaining conscious of inactive publics and reaching out to them, SSAC would establish a relationship, potentially recruiting new members, fans, and enthusiasts. Based on demographics and online behavior, the art center can predict a given digital public’s level of interest and involvement through social media. They could then send out multiple variations of a promotional ad for the festival in hopes of reaching a wider array of audiences. The theory would enable them to tailor each and every message depending on a given public’s interest. Most significantly through the consistent use of social media, the organization would be able to grow their following, raising the level of activity in publics while developing qualitative relationships with them. Promoting their online presence in the real world would also encourage the participation of new publics, particularly digital publics. Growing their following in applying this theory is the ultimate form of preparation for the festival. This following will increase with each daily update and reminder about SSAC and the arts festival which, in turn, will guarantee a larger

    Read More

More about Understanding Catullus’s Poems

Open Document