Biography EssayThe poetry of Gaius Valerius Catullus has had two lives. In Rome, Catullus and his generation, the "new poets," played an essential role in the development of Augustan poetry. They help...
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Gaius Valerius Catullus (ca. 84-ca. 54 BC) was a Roman lyric poet. He is best known for the intense poems which reflect various stages in his love affair with "Lesbia."Catullus belonged to a circle of...
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The poetry of Gaius Valerius Catullus has had two lives. In Rome, Catullus and his generation, the "new poets," played an essential role in the development of Augustan poetry. They helped to create th...
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In the following chapters from his Catullus, Tibullus, and Propertius, Davies offers a discursive reading of Catullus's most notable poems among the poet's epithalamia and alexandrines.
...
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In the following excerpt, Goold emphasizes Catullus's role as a pioneer in the crafting of effective poetic diction in classical poetry.
[Poets] from Ennius onwards had successfully clothed Gre...
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Below, Small examines Catullus's most ambitious work, "Poem 64," and draws critical conclusions about the poet and his view of the role of poetry as a vehicle of self-expression, ...
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Below, Ferguson provides an overview of the Lesbia poems, the elegies, and four long poems; two marriage-hymns ("Poem 61" and "Poem 62'), "Attis" ("Poe...
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In the excerpt below, Lee examines Catullus's epigrams, citing the epigrammatist Martial for clarification and comparison.
Catullus the Epigrammatist
Because he writes short and intense poems a...
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In the following essay, Fitzgerald develops "an erotics of Catullus's poetry, and especially the polymetrics, because of the fact that these poems are performances that take place in the...
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In the essay below, Wheeler demonstrates that Catullus was a pioneer and signal influence in the genre of the classical elegy.
In elegy the Romans achieved one of their greatest literary successes. Th...
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In the following essay, Havelock places Catullus within the context of his time, explaining the poetic tradition of which he was a part and his influence upon the Roman poetry of the classical age.
(i...
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Below, Quinn examines the features of what he terms "the Catullan movement" in classical Roman literature, focusing upon the poetry of youth and reaction, meter and structure, and the la...
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In the following essay originally published in 1966, Whigham surveys what he deems the highlights of Catullus's poetic canon.
The date of Catullus's introduction into Roman society is of...
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In the following essay, Quinn explores Catullus's poems that focus upon political and social commentary: those poems which, in the main, "establish a norm (if one can speak of a norm in ...
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In the following excerpt from his 1979 introduction to his edition of Catullus's poetry, Martin speaks of Catullus as one whose poetry was unique in its day and notably influential in modern ti...
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In the essay below, Raphael and McLeish provide a portrait in miniature of Catullus's life and enduring accomplishment, piecing together a likely outline of the poet's life and that of L...
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… Why] should we expect his design to be immediately apparent to us? Just because he was capable of writing individual poems of such direct simplicity that they still speak to us face to face a...
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Gaius Valerius Catullus
Catullus
