Catullus: The Poems

Description

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.

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.

Much the best translation in English -- Rex Warner Catullus is fiendishly hard to translate. To bring him alive needs stringent discipline and love of the work: here they are ... 'Ave' I say to Catullus and his brilliant translator. There will be no 'vale' to this book for a very long time. -- Patrick Dickinson ... a performance of immense lucidity and pace, following the sense of the original with unerring accuracy and discernment. He catches the dirty rancour of the shorter pieces as finely as the formal splendours of the longer narratives. -- Alan Brownjohn