Understanding Catullus’s Poems

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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.

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