Catullus: The Poems

by Gaius Valerius Catullus

Overview

Gaius Valerius Catullus (c. 84-54 BCE), one of the finest lyrical poets of classical times, was also among the bawdiest. He was capable of producing poems of such forthright and ribald sensuality that until recently they were all too often relegated to collections of erotica to protect the innocent minds of impressionable students. This collection of Catullus' poems incorporates the original Latin text and a facing English translation by James Michie, which is contemporary and lively, matching the spirit of the original, and also reveals the poets as he really was: a worldly, lusty man writing for his turbulent age.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781853991295
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/01/1991
Series:	Latin Texts
Edition description:	4th ed.
Pages:	239
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

Gaius Valerius Catullus (c. 84-54 BCE) was born at Verona into a wealthy family. Part of the 'new wave' of Latin poets at Rome whose reputation for epigrams and making love to married women was accompanied by an intense interest in the Alexandrian school, Catullus remains today, with 116 extant poems, one of the world's greatest lyric poets. James Michie, born in 1927, was educated at Marlborough College, and Trinity College, Oxford, at which he was a classical scholar. His previous books include Possible Laughter and a translation of The Odes of Horace.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations

Introduction
Life and Background
Lesbia/Clodia
The Literary Context

The Text: Arrangement and Transmission
Reception and Reinterpretation
Translation and Its Problems
The Catullan Meters
The Poems (1-116)

Explanatory Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index