The Poems of Catullus by Gaius Valerius Catullus

The Poems of Catullus by Gaius Valerius Catullus

In these splendid verse translations, Charles Martin makes newly accessible the work of one of ancient Rome's most widely read and exciting poets. It is the life and language of Roman streets that gives this poetry its force and lasting appeal. Catullus is a master of passing on the latest, most vicious gossip. No blow is too low to aim at an enemy, not even the sort scratched on walls about people like "Rufa, the Bolognese wife of Menenius," whose scandalous acts in a "cheap graveyard" live on long after her. But the poet's range of experience is not limited to Roman streets. He knows of life inside Roman villas as well (including Julius Caesar's, where he was a dinner guest). And behind the boastful exaggerations there is often a serious purpose. Catullus sees himself as a morality, reminding others of what constitutes proper behavior. He is also a student of literature, and his love poems can pair moral pietites with pungent obscenities or set ancient Greek literary clichés alongside jarring, "modern" metaphors from the world of Roman high finance. Charles Martin's translation skillfully conveys the tones and rhythms of the Latin verse while never straying far from its original meaning.

A translation that successfully re-creates in English the wit, the lyric, exaltation, the playful banter, the despair, the scurrilous invective, and the dramatic flair of the original, all of it moving easily in artfully contrived and skillfully controlled English equivalents of Catullus' many and varied meters
—Bernard Knox, New York Review of Books

Charles Martin's poems have appeared in such magazines as The New Yorker, Boulevard, The Threepenny Review, and Poetry. A recipient of grants from the Ingram Merrill Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, he is the author of four previous collections of poems, including Steal the Bacon, and Signs & Wonders.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780801839252
ISBN 10	0801839254
Title	The Poems of Catullus
Author	Gaius Valerius Catullus
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Johns Hopkins University Press
Year published	1989-12-27
Number of pages	208
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable