Whore, Sweet Thing, And Other Roman Endearments

Whore, Sweet Thing, and Other Roman Endearments: An Analysis of Catullus’ V and XLII Poems Catullus has managed to remain one of the most notable and influential poets of the Roman Empire. Throughout his era, he and his colleagues proved that a poet could be a real profession. He played a significant role during the rule of Augustus, and many of his works were preserved throughout the centuries, even though he was forgotten for quite some time after the collapse of the Roman Empire. His works, despite everything, lived on and served as inspiration for many poets starting with the Renaissance and onwards. It is interesting to compare the poems so as to see which differing formal elements they feature and how Catullus changed his style

The author openly exhibits his feelings without the fear of being judged by other people. Catullus proclaims his egotistic desires and lack of faith into the society's morals encouraging Lesbia to follow him on the difficult path of being together opposite to possible disapproval of the community. His message in the poem is not to pay attention to the comments of others so as to live and exist only for each other, because life is too short, and death can always come unexpectedly. It is very surprising to meet such a 21st-century motive within the Ancient Roman Empire because such an idea perfectly applies to current times when old conservative moral ways are disregarded for the sake of personal happiness and satisfaction. According to Richard A. Bauman, author of Women and Politics in Ancient Rome, the poet had an affair with Clodia, a senator's wife, and "She was almost certainly the ‘Lesbia’ who drove Catullus to distraction" (Bauman 69). That is why the author urges his love interest to disregard the opinion of the society. The reason for such a call to live in the moment, now, regardless of what happens is explained by line 6 in which there is mention of "eternal night" and "brief light" thus indicating the author's hopeless view at the afterlife or rather lack thereof. The author utilizes hendecasyllabic meter, which can be characterized as exhibiting plenty of elision of vowels coupled with the presence of numerous liquid consonants. When one reads the poem, it is impossible not to notice that it flows very well without any break-ins in the rhythm. The author also uses the metaphor of the evil eye for her husband willing to stop their union. He proclaims that had he known the amount of love they were experiencing for each other; he would have never managed to harm them (Dyson Hejduk