Catullus' Poetry

We recently covered Catullus' poetry in class and it was quite different from Sappho's. First off, it was easier to read because it is very straightforward but it does not have a lot of details like Sappho's poetry. Not only that, it’s a different theme from Sappho's poetry because it's usually directed at his own friends, his love, or Sappho herself. There is one poem imitating her with the massive details and the reference to the Gods and beyond. Not only that, I also noticed that both of them mentioned sparrows in each of their own works but described in different ways. In Sappho's poetry, the sparrows are mentioned as Sappho is describing Aphrodite’s chariot flying into the sky while the sparrows in Catullus' poetry are described as merely a pet.

- Lillian Lai