Difference between revisions of "Catullus"

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'''Gaius Valerius Catullus''' (84 BC - 54 BC) was a famous [[Roman]] [[poet]]. He is most well known for his licentious love poems, and for the fact that a large body of his work has survived to the modern day.  
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'''Gaius Valerius Catullus''' (ca. 84BC – ca. 54BC) was a Roman poet of the late Republican period. His poetry, composed in a wide variety of meters (hendecasyllables, elegiac couplets, dactylic hexameter, Sapphic strophe, Galliambic, Glyconic and Pherecratean stanzas, greater Asclepiadean, iambic senarius, iambic tetrameter catalectic, iambic trimester, choliambics and priapean), was greatly influential upon later writers of Latin poetry. All surviving poems from Catullus’ poetic ''oeuvre'' stem from the discovery of a single manuscript in Verona (known as the Verona Codex) in the 13th century.
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While Catullus has earned a reputation for obscenity, not all of his poems necessarily deserve such a stigma. These offending poems typically refer to anal and/or oral penetration in a variety of non-consensual scenarios, and as such, are not fit for teaching in the classroom.
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The fact that Catullus continues to be taught in schools around the world, and even set as mandatory curriculum, is a testament to the rampant left-wing infiltration among the Latin-teaching community. Unfortunately, many sensible and rightheaded Latin teachers are forced to wade through Catullan filth in order to find poems suitable for the classroom. The following contains a survey of the first 16 poems of the Catulluan corpus, displaying the ways in which the poems may be read as obscene, and, as such, should be avoided in the classroom:<br /><br />
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'''Poem 2''': while this poem, at first reading, appears to be a charming piece about the poet's girlfriend's sparrow, many obscene critics have (mis)read this poem as referring to the male genitalia.<ref>cf., for example, Hooper, R. W. 'In Defence of Catullus' Dirty Sparrow', ''G&R'' 32.2 (1985): 162-178</ref> As a result of this possible (mis)interpretation, the sparrow, as it were, should be kept out of the hands of children.<br /><br />
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'''Poem 3''': given the above information about poem 2, poem 3, also referring to Lesbia's ''passer'', should be avoided.<br /><br />
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'''Poem 5''': this poem not only features repetitive kissing between two parties not joined by marriage, but also seems to have undercurrents of witchcraft and wizardry.<br /><br />
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'''Poem 7''': see on poem 5.<br /><br />
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'''Poem 11''': the first four stanzas of this poem are suitable for the classroom. However, the reference to Lesbia's ''moechi'' ('man-whores') is inappropriate, as is the picture of the ''puella'' "''ilia rumpens''", 'breaking the genitals' of all of her paramours, presumably due to boisterous sexual intercourse.
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'''Poem 15''': one of the least pleasant poems in Catullus' ''oeuvre'', this features both the suggestion that Catullus has a sexual relationship with a young(!) boy(!), but also the following inappropriate tableau:<br /><blockquote>
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''Quem attractis pedibus patente porta <br /> percurrent raphanique mugilesque''<br />With your feet drawn apart, and the door (read: anus) gaping open, <br />the radishes and mullets will have their thoroughfare.
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</blockquote><br />
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'''Poem 16''': Perhaps the least appropriate for the classroom. The first (and last line), "''Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo''" refers to both non-consensual anal (''pedico, pedicare'') and oral (''irrumo, irrumare'') penetration. Further reflecting Latin academics' blatant left-wing agenda, recently this phrase has been translated as "I will sodomize and Clintonize you", with the reference to former US President Bill Clinton's oral penetration of his aide further titillating a possible student readership. <br /><br />
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Many liberal schools in the North East and abroad use Catullus' poems to try and force homosexual acceptance on their students. Many, if not most of Catullus' poems are vulgar and not suitable for children of any age.
 
  
 
[[Category:Poets]]
 
[[Category:Poets]]

Revision as of 22:59, October 5, 2009

Gaius Valerius Catullus (ca. 84BC – ca. 54BC) was a Roman poet of the late Republican period. His poetry, composed in a wide variety of meters (hendecasyllables, elegiac couplets, dactylic hexameter, Sapphic strophe, Galliambic, Glyconic and Pherecratean stanzas, greater Asclepiadean, iambic senarius, iambic tetrameter catalectic, iambic trimester, choliambics and priapean), was greatly influential upon later writers of Latin poetry. All surviving poems from Catullus’ poetic oeuvre stem from the discovery of a single manuscript in Verona (known as the Verona Codex) in the 13th century.

While Catullus has earned a reputation for obscenity, not all of his poems necessarily deserve such a stigma. These offending poems typically refer to anal and/or oral penetration in a variety of non-consensual scenarios, and as such, are not fit for teaching in the classroom.

The fact that Catullus continues to be taught in schools around the world, and even set as mandatory curriculum, is a testament to the rampant left-wing infiltration among the Latin-teaching community. Unfortunately, many sensible and rightheaded Latin teachers are forced to wade through Catullan filth in order to find poems suitable for the classroom. The following contains a survey of the first 16 poems of the Catulluan corpus, displaying the ways in which the poems may be read as obscene, and, as such, should be avoided in the classroom:

Poem 2: while this poem, at first reading, appears to be a charming piece about the poet's girlfriend's sparrow, many obscene critics have (mis)read this poem as referring to the male genitalia.[1] As a result of this possible (mis)interpretation, the sparrow, as it were, should be kept out of the hands of children.

Poem 3: given the above information about poem 2, poem 3, also referring to Lesbia's passer, should be avoided.

Poem 5: this poem not only features repetitive kissing between two parties not joined by marriage, but also seems to have undercurrents of witchcraft and wizardry.

Poem 7: see on poem 5.

Poem 11: the first four stanzas of this poem are suitable for the classroom. However, the reference to Lesbia's moechi ('man-whores') is inappropriate, as is the picture of the puella "ilia rumpens", 'breaking the genitals' of all of her paramours, presumably due to boisterous sexual intercourse.

Poem 15: one of the least pleasant poems in Catullus' oeuvre, this features both the suggestion that Catullus has a sexual relationship with a young(!) boy(!), but also the following inappropriate tableau:

Quem attractis pedibus patente porta
percurrent raphanique mugilesque
With your feet drawn apart, and the door (read: anus) gaping open,
the radishes and mullets will have their thoroughfare.


Poem 16: Perhaps the least appropriate for the classroom. The first (and last line), "Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo" refers to both non-consensual anal (pedico, pedicare) and oral (irrumo, irrumare) penetration. Further reflecting Latin academics' blatant left-wing agenda, recently this phrase has been translated as "I will sodomize and Clintonize you", with the reference to former US President Bill Clinton's oral penetration of his aide further titillating a possible student readership.

  1. ↑ cf., for example, Hooper, R. W. 'In Defence of Catullus' Dirty Sparrow', G&R 32.2 (1985): 162-178
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