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131st out of 975 books
—
1,006 voters
The Complete Poems
Of all Greek and Latin poets Catullus is perhaps the most accessible to the modern reader. Dealing candidly with the basic human emotions of love and hate, his virile, personal tone exerts a powerful appeal on all kinds of readers. The 116 poems collected in this new translation include the famous Lesbia poems and display the full range of Catullus's mastery of lyric meter...more
Paperback, 224 pages
Published
October 22nd 1998
by Oxford University Press, USA
(first published -54)
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Catullus is a great Latin poet whose verse is astonishingly contemporary in the treatment of his themes of love and betrayal. Most of his poems are brief, less than 20 lines, and about a third of these are about his love affair with Lesbia, who is probably Clodia, a married woman from one of Rome's leading families. Other poems deal with his friendships and betrayals, including some delightful insults. In addition, there are eight longer poems, including two marriage songs, a poem about Attis wh...more
Catullus. THE POEMS OF CATULLUS. ****. This was an edition published by The Folio Society in 1981, ably translated by James Michie. What’s particularly nice about this edition is that it contains the Latin and the corresponding English translation on facing pages. Even though I had four years of Latin in high school and grew up with the Latin Mass, I don’t remember enough to translate this stuff anymore. You can scan the Latin, however, and get the sense of the poems and then swing your eyes ove...more
One does not find humorous poems about rape to be beautiful as well everyday, but such is the magic of this exquisite poet from the time of Caesar and Cicero. Catullus' subject is, invariably, the feelings of rapture or disgust associated with love and hatred; his style is at once polished and crude, surrounding the words testicle or cock with adjectives of wonder and grace. Surprisingly, the National Review occasionally prints Catullus but, then again, the right-wing is well known for sexual re...more
Catullus is probably my favourite Latin poet. After years of Virgil, Ovid and Tacitus in my Latin class, Catullus was a breath of fresh air. My friends and I even recited some of his poems to each other during recess, which either means we were total geeks or that Catullus is just loads of fun. With those memories in mind, I picked up this volume of his collected works and I was not disappointed. No epic poems or myths here, but bawdy, funny and totally inappropiate poems. 80% of his work is abo...more
A fascinating personality. Some of these poems are beautiful and tender, some are shocking even to 2012 sensibilities (how many of today's poets threaten to sodomize or irrumate their rivals? how many of our love poets ask their girlfriend to come over at lunchtime for "nine consecutive sex sessions" because they are "poking a hole through my ), some are playful and witty. I enjoyed the diversity of these little lyrics, and the different moods that he is able to express successfully.
Consider the...more
Consider the...more
no one has differentiated translators yet, this one picked at random. copley was my favorite before garrick turned me onto carl sesar's, first one to do justice to the extraordinary level of obscenity of the original
It's been a long time since I've sat down to a book of poetry, but lately a few writers have inspired me, from Chaucer to Eco, to take a closer look at the likes of Catullus. It's evident in the first few pages how Catullus influenced Chaucer, not just as a source of literary quotes, but as an inspiration for both subject matter and style. I expect that Chaucer did not read Catullus so much as memorize him. The poems themselves span the range of human emotion from sweet to bawdy, inspiring to an...more
Inferior to West's translation but the best available for the Kindle.
Last summer (2012) I began learning Latin with Catullus, which is both a good idea and a bad idea. It's a bad idea only in the sense that many of the poems were approached with a dictionary rather than a vocabulary in my head, and it is very tough to recreate reading a poem for the first time. Having said that, it such an experience doesn't eliminate "getting" a poem, and in the past year I've come to really get Catullus — not just as poetry but as a poet.
Catullus is my favourite Latin poet. He...more
Catullus is my favourite Latin poet. He...more
”In bed I read Catullus. It passes my comprehension why Tennyson could have called him ‘tender.’ He is vindictive, venomous, and full of obscene malice. He is only tender about his brother and Lesbia, and in the end she gets it hot as well.”
- Harold Nicolson, Diaries and Letters 1945-1962.
Catullus was a Roman poet that lived through some of the most tumultuous days of the Roman Republic, from about 84-54 b.c. He spent his short life socializing in the best of circles, and his poetry contains ja...more
- Harold Nicolson, Diaries and Letters 1945-1962.
Catullus was a Roman poet that lived through some of the most tumultuous days of the Roman Republic, from about 84-54 b.c. He spent his short life socializing in the best of circles, and his poetry contains ja...more
Apr 19, 2013
Darran Mclaughlin
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
re-reading
Catullus strikes a different note to what I have read of other Latin poets like Virgil, Horace or Ovid. His work seems more personal, earthy (occasionally filthy) and urban. His work seems less consciously and grandly Roman, and he alludes less to politics, military glory and mythology than he does to friends, lovers, dinner parties and literary and sexual rivalry. I recall seeing him compared to Baudelaire once before and that does give some indication of what to expect but the big difference i...more
Caius Valerius Catullus is without question one of Roman literature’s most unfiltered voices. Witty, brash, and bawdy, he is so coarse, at times, that he may make you blush; but he is always so sincere that you can’t help but find him endearing. Born in Verona, sometime around 84 BC, Catullus spent most of his brief adult life (he died when only 30) at Rome, where he was neck deep in a society that was morally and politically fractured and crumbling fast.
His poetry bares all his preoccupation w...more
His poetry bares all his preoccupation w...more
Catullus is one of the greatest Roman poets. Had a single manuscript of his collection not been discovered in Verona c. 1300, he would have been lost to us forever. It would be hard to point to a collection of poems that is more passionately intense, thematically wide ranging and skilfully executed than that of Catullus. It is all here: erotic love, friendship, travel, principles of poetic composition, political operators, poetasters, prostitutes, dinner invitations, socially inept wannabes, pos...more
Jan 16, 2010
Abraham
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Fans of poety and/or Ancient Rome
Shelves:
greco-roman
I found it very difficult not to like this fellow, this apolitical Roman playboy who survives to us as much from luck as from skill as a poet. His character is what most enthralled me. He often appears like a fifteen year-old boy: love-sick on one hand; hot-tempered, always getting into scuffles in the school yard on the other. Occasionally, he is solemn, as in the few poems he wrote to console friends after personal tragedies. Occasionally, he uses lofty language and obscure references -- but h...more
Catullus, at least in this collection, likes to style the poems as sort of letters to friends and such. There is invariably a name or names mentioned, and while I imagine this made the poems effective in the day when the readers were familiar with the people mentioned (or at least made readers speculate as to the true identities of the ones hidden behind code names like Lesbia to whom Catullus was obviously in love and probably carrying on an affair), today some nuances will have been lost espec...more
This is a rather difficult collection to rate. I thoroughly enjoy the long poems and epigrams of Catullus; however, the lyrics left much to be desired in my opinion. I am going to look into another translation of the lyrics, but the penguin classics are usually my favorite when it comes to ancient classics. I think this is really more like 2.5 stars. I feel harsh with this rating. I would definitely recommend a perusal of this book if not a front to back cover reading. Maybe start around poem 60...more
Apr 09, 2013
Wendy
added it
I fell in love with Catullus ( and his poetry) at the tender age of 17 - what a pity he'd been dead for over 2,000 years by then! His poems are ageless, timeless, full of raw emotion and testament to the fact that human nature is unchanging. One of my greatest thrills was to visit Sirmione on Lake Garda (Catullus' home) a few years ago - how happy I was to walk in the footsteps of my hero!
By far the best translations of Catullus I've seen, this one was taught at Naropa by Gregory Corso (who would know). Gragory copied out some different versions of his favorite Catullus poems by about 6 or 7 different translators, and asked us to compare. The most respected translator (at the time) was Horace Gregory, who blanched at the obscenity in these poems. Gregory just removed the dirty parts and replaced them with "...", while others tried to make the dirty parts sound less dirty by using...more
Feb 13, 2012
Liam
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
greek-and-roman-classics,
poetry
I think the Intro explained well enough the background to understand what are at times allusive poems. The many references to Roman figures and gods can make absorbing many of the poems difficult. The Notes do a good job though. His take on meter is good, but because he's translating into English do we really need a lesson on Latin meter?
A surprising favourite from my reading this term. Catullus is not a poet who is filled with airs and graces but rather a young man who speaks from his mind and heart. This leads to both beautiful and succinct poems on the one hand and bawdy obscenity on the other. It was a lot of fun to read.
I enjoyed some of the love poetry, friend poetry, and bawdy poetry, but nothing in the translation made them sour into my soul. The tribute poems are as dull as most tribute poems. Nothing in this translation helped me see the greatness in Catullus work. Perhaps I need to know Latin to appreciate him.
I've only read them in Latin, so it wasn't this edition or anything, but this is as good a forum as any... My advice: read Catullus. He's kinda hilarious. I don't know about the translation or anything (hint: try to find a translation with naughty bits. It's how he wrote it.)
Translation is pretty decent if you keep in mind the translator did not do a literal translation, rather tried to keep rhyme and meter to the poems. Really the only way to read Catullus is in Latin or you miss a lot of the great puns!
Another library book. I remembered my old Classics teacher mentioning him, and thinking I should read his poetry, so I was pleased to grab a copy in the (new) local library. The translation seems pretty good to me, although I wish there was more by way of footnotes to explain contextual information -- when there is any.
Most people tend to think of poetry as boring. (For which, frankly, I blame a public school education that equates "poetry" with 19th century English poetry.) My standard counterargument to that is Neruda, but having read this collection I'll have to include Catullus as supporting evidence. It's not everyday you learn the vivid Latin slang term for masturbation, or get to rid a poem about a guy chasing a hooker who's stolen his wallet into the street. Penguin's thorough introduction coupled with...more
I am looking at a specific edition of Catullus, which I hope this one is. translated by Ryan Gallagher, who is co-publisher of Bootstrap Press (Lowell), whence comes this book. the translations, in my brief scan, look strong. Gallagher includes considerable extra matter, including several essays concerned with translations and with Catullus, plus the original poems. I will quibble my preference that the original should be on facing page to the translation, but I am otherwise impressed by this pr...more
I read this collection in Dr. C. Wayne Tucker's Latin Literature in Translation class my freshman year at Hampden-Sydney.
No where else would you find the phrase "Noblest pederast!"
No where else would you find the phrase "Noblest pederast!"
Much like the male version of Sappho, Catallus writes beautiful and haunting lyrical poetry that is consistent with the main elements: tone and imagery.
At turns whiny, but always witty. A poet for all time. As usual Penguin has suitable historical context and glossary. Don't miss it in original Latin!
In the category of "what I learned from this book" I should note that I learned the Latin words for hand job, sodomy, and buggery.
Yay Catullus!
Yay Catullus!
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Gaius Valerius Catullus (ca. 84 BC – ca. 54 BC) was a Roman poet of the 1st century BC. His surviving works are still read widely, and continue to influence poetry and other forms of art. Catullus invented the "angry love poem."
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“Odi et amo. quare id faciam, fortasse requiris?
nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.”
—
34 people liked it
nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.”
“Odi et amo; quare fortasse requiris, nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.
(my translation: I hate and I love, you ask why I do this, I do not know, but I feel and I am tormented)”
—
12 people liked it
More quotes…
(my translation: I hate and I love, you ask why I do this, I do not know, but I feel and I am tormented)”
Jun 09, 2011 10:49pm