Comparing Catullus Poems

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Hopelessly Devoted
Catullus' Poems, is a popular text that mimics the works of Theocritus's Idylls. His works, although brief, contain a spectrum of emotions about the beautiful disaster that is love. Catullus engagingly depicts the inner lying feelings that he possesses for his mistress Lesbia (also known as Clodia, the wife of a Roman consul). In the Poems, one see's Catullus nearly driven to a point of insanity because of his hopeless devotion to Lesbia thus causing him to feel an array of emotions such as love and hate.
It is often times difficult to decipher the thin line between love and hate. What's even more difficult is being ruled by both love and hate simultaneously. This was the case when it came to Catullus. He was a slave …show more content…

In Poem 51, he draws attention to the effects that loving Lesbia has on his body. "(softly) tears me/ to tatters: nothing is left of me, each time/ I see her,/ … tongue numbed; arms, legs/ melting, on fire" ( line 6-10). In these stanzas, Catullus exhibits a lack of control in her presence. He is undone by her physically and emotionally. With that same all-consuming love that aches him, comes the all consuming hate he has for her. In Poem 72, the convictions of Catullus' emotions are apparent. "Today I know you too well/ and desire burns deeper in me/ and you are more coarse/ more frivolous in my thought" (lines 7-10). This stanza shows the manifestation of the hidden hate in Catullus' heart. Unlike Poem 5 where Lesbia was depicted as the key to his happiness, we now see her being depicted as the cause of his sadness. Lesbia's true colors are brought into light and Catullus paints her as "frivolous and coarse". In other words, she is now tainted in his sight. Despite this new found emotion, it does not change the amount of love he has for her. "I cannot think tenderly of you,/ sink to what acts you dare-/ I can never cut this love" ("Poem 75" 4-6). Catullus hates the way he loves her but can't help but to love her despite her wrong doings. He is inescapably, hopelessly devoted to

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