Roman Love Poetry

A mixture of poetry and history today, as we look at a poem from over 2000 years ago. This is also an excellent example of why learning context is important for poetry, as it would be hard to analyse this very short poem without knowing a little bit about the poet himself.

Catullus was an Italian poet who lived in Rome around the time of Julius Caesar. It's believed he was around from about 84-54 BC, and during that time he wrote about 116 poems, most of which were about his personal life. Most poets around this time wouldn't have written about themselves very much, instead writing about mythical heroes or famous people (often so they could be paid by those people), which makes Catullus an example of a neoteric poet. This means he focused on smaller ideas and themes - mainly his life and the people around him.

Now here comes the important context:

A lot of Catullus' poetry revolves around his relationship with a woman he calls Lesbia - who historians think was married to another Roman (probably someone very rich). Catullus wrote a whole collection of poetry about Lesbia, but most of them are about the fact that, although he loved her very much, she never really returned his love. Bonus challenge - what is this kind of love called?

Now you know a little about Catullus himself, let's read the poem:

"I hate and love. Why I do so, perhaps you ask.

I know not, but I feel it and I am tortured."

And that's all there is - two lines. Two lines which sum up exactly how Catullus was feeling at the time he decided to write the poem. Your job is to figure out what those feelings were, based on the language he used.

1. Read the poem and pick out any key words that link to how Catullus felt.

2. Using that key language and your knowledge of the poem, write a paragraph or discuss with a parent/sibling, explaining how Catullus may have felt. Use this structure to help you:

I believe Catullus must have felt                when writing this poem.

For example, the line "                     " suggests to me...

In particular, his use of the word/phrase "                  " implies...

Catullus may have wanted his audience to feel/think.... because...

I think Catullus was inspired to write this poem by...

3. Why do you think this poem is so short? Why did Catullus not write a longer poem to make his feelings clearer?

4. Challenge - Write your own two-line poem which explains how you feel about staying at home during the lockdown.

Please feel free to send any examples of your poetry! Maybe even get your parents to have a go and see what they come up with.