Catullus. Reading questions

1. How is the poet's passion toward Lesbia expressed in this poem?

1. This poem has obvious sexual connotatios.
2. How does the sparrow console the poet's beloved?
3. What exactly is the poet's "tormenting passion"?

1. What kind of effect on the senses does seeing his beloved with her husband have on the poet?
2. In what sense is the poet's jealousy described as sor of illness?

1. Quintia is attractive. Lesbia is stunning. Would you be able to describe the difference between an attractive and a stunning woman? I think it has to do more with the attitude of the perceiver than any real characteristic of the perceived. What do you think?

1. "Fidelity" here probably does not mean that the poet did not have another lover. What else could it mean?
2. How is his love for the Lesbia unique?
3. If you are a man, would you be able to describe to a woman how your love for her is unique, different than all others?

1. 1. In the third line the poet tells us that things are not going so great with Lesbia now. What's the problem?
2. 2. What do you thing "this lifelong union" refers to? Marriage?
3. What do you think "holy friendship" refers to?

1. How does the poet interpret Lesbia's rants and rages?
2. From here on note the progression of the dissolution of the relationship.

1. What do you think is the meaning of the last two lines?
2. How does the poet's feeling here relate to that in poem 109?

1. Try to figure out the meaning of lines 2-4.
2. When he says Lesbia wasn't just amistress, then what wsa she to him?
3. In the last two lines the poet mentions "lust" and affection. What is the difference between the two?
4. Which one does he feel toward Lesbia now?

1. There is not a single one of you that can convince me that you have never had this sort of feeling toward someone at some point in your life. The poet can't explain it. Can you?
2. How would such a feeling make you shiver?

1. Note the sort of criticism and advice that Catullus directs at himself.
2. How is the finality of the relationship indicated?
3. How does the poet recall the relationship?

1. How does the poet abuse Lesbia?

1. What is the attitude of the poet toward Lesbia here?
2. What message does he want tosend her?
3. What has Lesbia done to the poet?

1. What advice does the poet give himslef?
2. How does the poet express his suffering?

1. So, what do you think of Catullus as a lover?
2. If you are a woman, how would you feel having a lover like him?
3. If you are a man, could you be a lover like him? Could you love someone like he does?