Catullus 85 is one of the poems that the Roman poet Catullus wrote about his feelings for his mistress. Poetry (ancient Greek: poieo = create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. ... The Roman Forum was the central area around which ancient Rome developed. ... Gaius Valerius Catullus (ca. ...
I hate and I love. Why do I do this, perhaps you ask?
I know not, but I feel I am becoming - and I am crucified.
Meter
The meter for this poem is elegiac couplet. Elegiac couplets consist of alternating lines of dactylic hexameter and pentameter: two dactyls followed by a long syllable, a caesura, then two more dactyls followed by a long syllable. ...
General Comments
This couplet is one of Catullus's more famous pieces. Its brevity and terseness underscore the forcefulness of Catullus's intimate declaration. It is one of a series of poems in which Catullus attempts to reconcile his conflicting feelings for his mistress, Lesbia. Lesbia is the lover to whom the Roman poet Catullus dedicates a number of poems. ...
Often translated as tormented or pained, it must be noted that the word "excrucior" in Roman times gave reference to the torture device, and thus gives us an interpretation of physical (or near physical) pain, rather than psychological. It is, as can be said, 'killing' him.
Catullus and Callimachus did not describe the feats of ancient heroes and gods (except perhaps in re-evaluating and predominantly artistic circumstances, e.g.
Catullus was also an admirer of Sappho, a poetess of the 7th century BC, and is the source for much of what we know or infer about her.
Catullus 51 is a translation of Sappho 31, and 61 and 62 are certainly inspired by and perhaps translated directly from lost works of Sappho.
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