Q. #2 pg.55

The story's closing lines conclude the darkness/death imagery Ovid has developed throughout the narrative by combining Pyramus and Thisbe's wishes with the themes. For example, Thisbe wants the tree to have "pullosque et luctibus aptos semper habe fetus" which is noticeable in the last lines by the phrase "nam color in pomo est, ubi permaturuit, ater". In this insistence and many others in the story the darkness represents joy because it means their wishes have come true and its the time during the day when they can escape without being seen and under protection. Their plan to meet each other consists of happening "sub noctem" and "lateantque sub umbra arboris". The darkness in the story also portrays feelings of danger and worried. For example, Thisbe "sic facit incertum pomi color" of the tree because it is darker than usually. This makes her worried because she thinks something bad has happened and she doesn't know if she is at the right tree. Death is represented in the last lines because Pyramus and Thisbe "una requiescit in urna" which was their dream of being together. Throughout the story and especially in the last line death represents the unity of Pyramus and Thisbe and how much they love each other. For example, when Pryamus is talking to the lion who is not there he says, "Nostrum divellite corpus, et scelerata fero consumite visera morsu". The key word he uses is our when he talks about his and her death because it reveals how much he loves her since he wants the lion to kill him too. Then towards the end of the play Thisbe says a powerful line that summarizes the meaning of death. She says, "dabit hic in vulnera vires." This shows she loves Pyramus so much that the love is driving her to kill herself so they can be together at last, unite.

Question One pg. 49

Ovid's graphic depiction of Pyramus' suicide is very essential to the story-line because it displays the everlasting love he has for Thisbe. For a man to stab himself in the grion, it shows that he must really love her because this spot is very sensitive. This feeling comes from the word Ovid uses instead of stab which increases the pain you feel as a reader. Ovid uses the word "demisit" which means plunged. This word gives a deeper depiction and stronger image the pain he is going through. Pyramus' graphic suicide is important to the story-line because it follows the tragic pattern that has been occurring. It starts with the parents not allowing Pyramus and Thisbe to love each other. Then it goes to the wall that literally stops them from loving each other. Finally, it goes to Pyramus killing himself because he thinks she is dead. This descriptive suicide is essential to the story-line because this is one of many other descriptive scenes in the story so far. Another descriptive scene is when Thisbe embraces Pyramus' dead body and mixing her tears with his blood.

Limerick on Story so Far

A girl and a boy had to try

To love through a wall that made them cry

They plan to meet where

Something happens there

He thinks she is dead he says goodbye.

Pyramus and Thisbe 105-127 Figure of Speech

The first figure of speech I noticed in this part of the story was the use of an apostrophe. Ovid used this when Pyramus was speaking to the lion. For example, Ovid wrote, "o quicumque sub hac habitatis rupe leones!" This is an apostrophe because Pyramus is addressing the lion as present when the lion is really absent or not there. Ovid uses this figure of speech to show how sad Pyramus feels about Thisbe's death by screaming to the lion as if it was there to kill him too. The second figure of speech I noticed was the use of an anaphora. An anaphora is the repetition of a word or words at the start of successive clauses. Ovid used this form of a figure of speech when he said, "utque dedit notae lacrimas, dedit oscula vesti." The repetition of the words "he gave" stresses to the reader of how upset Pyramus is feeling about thinking Thisbe is dead because he found her veil soaked with blood. The third figure of speech I noticed was the use of a transferred epithet. A transferred epithet is when a qualifying word modifies "the wrong" word. For example, when Ovid wrote, "scelerata fero consumite viscers morsu." The transferred epithet is Pryamus' "wicked guts". I strongly believe Ovid used this figure of speech because it shows the reader how mad Pyramus is at himself, since he thinks he caused Thisbe's death. He is so mad he calls himself sinful and wishes himself dead too by the same lion.

The symbolism of the Wall

There is a big diference in what the wall means in Pyramus and Thisbe literally and metaphorically. The wall literally, is a wall that surrounds a whole town which is under the control of Semiramis. The wall is shared by two neighboring houses which are on different sides of the wall. The wall literally holds back Pyramus and Thisbe from seeing and touching each other. The only way the lovers communicate is by whispering through a whole in the wall whole in the wall that was made when the wall was built. Finally, I feel the wall acts as a protector for Pyramus and Thisbe's parents and families. I feel this way because their parents forbade them from getting married and they tried to stop them from loving each other. This wall stops future problems that may happen between the families and their parents since it stops them from getting married. Metaphorically, the wall is an object which acts like a boy or girl who is trying to break apart Pyramus and Thisbe's love for each other. This girl or boy is trying to make Pyramus and Thisbe love him or her. I believe this is the meaning of the wall metaphorically because Pyramus and Thisbe say to the wall, "invide paries, quid amantibus obstas?" Ovid uses personification to make me come to this conclusion. He makes the wall seem like a jealous x-girlfriend or boyfriend that is trying to stop them from loving each other.

Pyramus and Thisbe L55-77

Pyramus and Thisbe has many different figure of speeches contained in it. The very first figure of speech I noticed in this story was use of rhetorical questions. Ovid uses this type of figure of speech twice to create more emotion and emphasis on the point he is trying to make. He says, "quid non sentit amor?" and, "quid amantibus obstas?". He asks the first question to create more emotion on the concept of love and how the wall is not stopping the love between Pyramus and Thisbe. Ovid asks the second question to create more emphasis and emotion on how Pryamus and Thisbe hate how this wall stops them from being together. By asking a rhetorical question it shows the frustration they have against this wall and the fact that a wall doesn't stop their love. Next, Ovid uses personification by giving the wall that seperates the two houses human characteristics. Ovid says, "primi vidistis amantes, et vocis fecistis iter," and, "invide paries". He says the wall is jealous, sees, and has created a pathway. The use of personification portrays a greater sense of feelings because it makes the wall seem like he is acting like a person who is trying to stop Pryamus and Thisbe from being together. It makes the wall act like their parents. Finally, Ovid uses a form of onomatopoeia even though it is not exactly it. He uses it to get the reader into the minds of Pryamus and Thisbe when they whisper through the wall to talk to each other. The onomatopoeia occurs at the end of the words when he says, "vidistis amantes, et vocis fecistis". The "s" sounds at the end of the words create a sense of whispering which makes the reader feel like he or she is hearing Pyramus and Thisbe whisper to each other.

Catullus 8

You're taking step towards being a man,

To move on you be strong and get new fan,

Ask questions about her bad,

This will make you sad,

Not looking back should be your plan.

Catullus 75

This poem is very similar to poem 72 because these are the only two poems that say negative things about Lesbia. In poem 72 he gets mad at Lesbia because he thinks she only knew him. I believe this relates to his negative statement in this poem because he talks about how her sin drags down her mind. I think the sin is how she doesn't only know him. I believe this because both poems are strikingly similar about the negative aspects of Lesbia. For example, in both poems Catullus talks about respecting Lesbia less. The way he does it in this poem is in a more negative way because he comes out directly and says to Lesbia, "I am not able to stop loving you." In poem 72 he says it in a nice way because he doesn't direct it to Lesbia, but we know as readers that he it is about her. Catullus instead, talks about respecting less in general way by saying, "such an injury forces a lover to love more, but to respect less." Another similar aspect that connects both of these poems together is the fact that even thou Catullus says these bad things about Lesbia he ends up saying that he will still love her. For example, in poem 72 he says Lesbia is, "multo vilior et levior", which makes him made, but at the end of the poem he still says he loves her. Then in this poem he hates how his, "huc est mens deducta tua." He doesn't like this because he goes on to say that he is going to respect her less.

Catullus 85

Catullus is hurt,

Why, because of love and hate,

This tears him apart.

Catullus 72

The theme of this poem is talking about the love Catullus has for Lesbia. The loving relationship Catullus has for Lesbia is based on the balance of many aspects of a relationship but especially the balance of more love and less respect. This is the most essential balance because he ends the poem with this balance which really makes the reader remember the tone Catullus is trying to portray in his relationship with Lesbia. There are many other balances he uses to shape the relationship. For example, he uses the word "nosse" and "cognovi" which implies Catullus thinks he knew that Lesbia was a respectful person to him, but now he knows she is not. This is why I believe he says, "amare magis, sed bene velle minus" at the end of the poem because he still loves her but respects her less. Next, he balances the way he is going to love and cherish her by balancing "vulgus" and "pater". This reveals that the love he has for Lesbia is both a protecting love and a everlasting love. The everlasting love comes from the common man loving his mistress and the protecting love comes from that, but also how a father loves to protect his sons and his sons-in-law from any harm. There are many more balances throughout this poem that further shape the type of relationship and love Catullus and Lesbia have.

Catullus 86

The way Catullus compares Lesbia to Veneres, the god of love and charm, seems as if Lesiba is better than the god or as if she is the god. Catullus says, "surripuit Veneres," which makes Lesbia seem as if she is now the god of love and charm since she stole all the love and charm from everyone. By using the Goddesses' name instead of love and charm imposes the idea more that Catullus is saying Lesbia is better than Veneres. Catullus could of said that Lesbia has the most love and charm out of all the women in the world, so he wouldn't be criticised of comparing a god to a human which is sin full.


I think Catullus looks for charm, intelligence, honesty, and being white skinned in a woman because he says, "For no charm and no wit is in such a great body..." which refers to the beautiful woman that he later denies as pretty. To further strengthen my argument, Catullus later talks about how Lesbia is beautiful because she has love and charm. Also, at the beginning of the poem he compliments the beautiful woman of being honest and white skinned. This supports my belief because he has never complimented another woman before. This shows he must like these characteristics in a woman.

Catullus 69 to Catullus 43

Catullus 69 and Catullus 43 are very similar in what each poem talks about and what they reveal about Catullus' character. Catullus 69 talks about Rufus who has trouble getting women because he smells bad. Catullus 43 talks about why Catullus doesn't like this woman who is the mistress from the play boy of Formiae. Both of these poems main focus point is on the answer to why each sex wouldn't go out with the opposite sex. For insistence, Catullus 69 expresses the feelings from the woman's view on why she wouldn't go out with Rufus and Catullus 43 expresses Catullus' feelings on why he wouldn't go out with this other girl. Both poems' answers are based around the same broad topic, appearance. I came to this conclusion because each poem never mentions charater traits to why he or she wouldn't go out with the opposite sex. All the comments from each poem is on physical traits. This gets to my next point of how the two poems are related. They reveal the true reason why Catullus loves Lesbia. Since, both poems only express physical characteristics it is easy to tell that Catullus only looks at the physical traits of a woman rather than their character. This makes it easy to conclude that Catullus only likes Lesbia because of her looks. How does he consider this true love?

Also these two poems, reveal more about Catullus' character. In each poem Catullus writes about the bad aspects of the person rather than talking about the good aspects of a person. This makes Catullus look like a hypocrite. He is a type of person who never will look at the good aspects of a person if the bad aspects are bothering him because there is not one thing in both poems that is not negative to a person.

Catullus 87

The poem is about Catullus' love for Lesbia. The way he talks about this is by comparing to aspects of a relationship with his love for Lesbia. He compares no woman ever being truly loved as much as his love for Lesbia. Then he compares not having a faith in any contact as much as his faith being found in his love for Lesbia. I think this is saying that no faith will has a true everlasting bound with its beliefs as he will be in an everlasting, loving relationship with Lesbia. I believe this because before this he talks about his love for Lesbia. He compares the two things using the words "tantum" and "quantum" which is very important because it shows that his love for Lesbia is ten times better than what he is comparing it to. For example, Catullus could of just used the word like, but he chose these words because it shows his personality and his desire to love Lesbia. It shows his desire to love Lesbia because he will do anything to love Lesbia even if it means to kill himself if she doesn't truly love him. (Catullus 92) This shows his personality because if he used the word like to compare the two things then it would of showed he was a boring and an average guy. Instead, he used "tantum" and "quantum" which shows he is ambitious and he will love Lesbia better than any other man will, including her husband. The tone of this poem is serious because he is talking about his love for Lesbia by comparing it to other things. This creates a serious tone because when you compare two things you are trying to make a point which will stand out. For Catullus, this point is when he compares his love for Lesbia. The point he is trying to make is that she will never be loved as much as he will love her by another man.

Catullus 92

In this poem love is important to Catullus. He shows that love is important to him because he uses the word "dispeream" which translates as "I may die". It is not just the word which shows the importance of love to him, but what he compares it to. He compares his death to Lesbia not loving him and comparing it to him not loving Lesbia truly. Going along with the importance of love, comes his passion for having a relationship with Lesbia. Throughout this poem, it seems as if Catullus puts you, as a reader, in a setting of a married couple arguing with each other. The poem creates this feeling because a married couple doesn't always say the nicest things to one another which attracts you into this scenario. Catullus says that Lesbia all talks bad about him, but at the same time he does the same thing to her all the time. He pictures this as a sign of a future relationship with her. He sees this because of how a couple acts by arguing with one another. He expresses this passion for a relationship with Lesbia by putting his own life in balance of the relationship. Two times in the poem, he says he is going to kill himself if this relationship doesn't work. There is a reason why he chooses to say this twice. He says it twice because it takes two loving people who would die for each other to make a relationship work. This actually ties the whole poem together. It expresses his importance of love and his passion for being in a relationship with Lesbia, but at the same time it describes how a true relationship acts and what makes one work.

Catullus 5

Catullus is very smart in using writing mechanics to paint a picture in the readers head of an idea or scene he is trying to get across. In the first part of this poem Catullus and Lesbia say that they should value the rumors of old men as nothing. To create the feeling of hearing rumors, Catullus puts the letter "s" at the end words that are around the part of the poem which has to do with the rumors. For example, he uses the verbs, amemus, vivamus, and eastimemus. Catullus uses the sound of certain letters again when he talks about having Lesbia giving him kisses. He chooses the number and word "centum" because the letter "c" in Latin makes the sound of a hard "k" in English. This hard "k" sound sounds like a kiss which is what Catullus is talking about at this point in the poem.

Also, Catullus uses certain words to get a message across that refers to Lesbia's husband. This happens when he tells Lesbia he is going to mix up all the kisses they made together, so that people will envy them. I believe he is referring to Lesbia's husband because he chooses the words, "ne quis malus," which means, "so that somebody evil may not". "Somebody evil" refers to her husband because to Catullus, he is evil since Lesbia is taken by him. This is one of the main reasons why Lesbia will not fall in love with Catullus.

Catullus 43

Watching ugly girl?

Why, when you love Lesbia?

Then compare the two!?

Catullus 7

One of the biggest questions I have after reading this poem is; why does Catullus have to use two examples to show how many kisses he is going to give Lesbia? I know that it gives a better romantic feel to the poem, but at the same time the examples show us, the readers, his personality and character. It reveals that Catullus seems to be a creepy stalker because he wants to kiss Lesbia, who really doesn't know he likes her, as many times as there are stars in the sky at night. This gives the reality of Catullus being a stalker, just like poem 51. In poem 51, he is sitting far away watching Lesbia talk to a man while he thinks about all his feelings he has for her. Another reason why Catullus uses two examples to show the number of kisses he is going to give Lesbia is because the examples are symbols that are representations of people. I think Catullus uses specifically two examples because I believe he is thinking about two different women that he has to choose over. The two women are Lesbia and the other, is a mistress from the playboy of Formiae. The mistress appears in poem 43. I came up with this idea of the two examples representing the two women after reading poem 43, when he states a question about comparing the two women. I believe the first example Catullus uses represents Lesbia because there are more grains of sand on Cyrene than there are stars in the sky at night. This symbolizes Lesbia because that means he would give Lesbia more kisses than the mistress who we know he doesn't like after reading poem 43.

Overall, this poem can connect to many of his other poems he has written. Being able to connect his other poems to this poem allows you to figure out the type of guy Catullus really was.

Catullus 83

The poem Catullus 83 portrays two main points about Catullus' personality and his love for Lesbia. After reading this poem by Catullus a huge surprise is revealed. The surprise concerns Lesbia, Catullus' love. The surprise is that the readers find out Lesbia has a husband. This changes everything for Catullus because you can't want to marry and love a person that is already married. In the Roman life, as i recall, if you wanted to marry someone who was already married it was considered a sin. After reading the first line of the poem, I believe Catullus' feelings are going to change dramatically. I believe this because he is going to have to give up on trying to get Lesbia to fall in love with him. Catullus is going to have to find another woman to love since Lesbia is taken. He has a better chance at finding another woman to love because if he continues to love Lesbia he is going to have to find a way for Lesbia to break up with her husband. This will lead to more problems and complications for Catullus. Hopefully, Catullus will get over his feelings that he has for Lesbia.

The conclusion made me feel like I was completely wrong about Catullus because he still loves Lesbia after finding out she has a husband. He continues to love Lesbia because he says she remembers him by overhearing her talk about him to her husband. This reveals a lot about Catullus' personality because he keeps pursuing Lesbia. The poem shows Catullus is a man who gets what he wants. Overall the poem is great in revealing the way Catullus thinks.

Catullus 109

This poem is mainly about Catullus' love for Lesbia. It is clear that he is talking to Lesbia because he starts the poem off with, "mea vita," which translates as "my life". I know this refers to Lesbia from my previous readings of Catullus, but especially poem 51. The poem expresses his love for Lesbia through his use of beautiful words. He uses the words like everlasting, "perpetuumque", and forever lasting, "aeternum". You can tell Catullus loves Lesbia because he speaks to the Gods about her. When you speak to the Gods, this subject of matter must really be important to you since they are the most respected and powerful aspect of the Romans' life. Since the poem is all about his love for Lesbia, the tone of the poem is romantic. He wants to make this love between them be a forever true lasting relationship. In this case true means being truthful and holy to each other.

I strongly believe that this poem relates to anyone in love. A person in love can relate to this poem because many people when they are in love, now-a-days, go to the God they believe in. For example, many Catholics will go pray in a church, instead of just talking to the Gods like Catullus did.

Catullus 2

The poem is very classical in my sense. It is classical for the main reason of connecting to human nature and their actions. The mood I get from this poem is the way Catullus is watching and talking about Lesbia, his "love". To me it gives an overall presence of always watching the one person you love. I get this feeling because Catullus describes a whole scene of watching her being compassionate to her pet. For example, Catullus says, "...with whom she often plays whilst she holds you in her lap..." This connects to human nature because I believe humans always carefully watch the person they have a crush on, like Catullus does, or the one person they love. Another reason it connects to human nature and makes the poem classical is the feeling of the poem. The feeling of being romantic connects to human nature because humans at least once in their life have a sense of love like, Catullus does in this poem. It is shown from the very start of the poem when Catullus loves Lesbia, but she doesn't know this. I believe she doesn't know this because he is watching her like he has a crush on her. He starts to wish that she would love him the way she loves her pet. This feeling comes from Catullus saying, "...ah-might I but play with you as she does, and lighten the gloomy cares of my heart!" Many people wish the same thing Catullus does, that's why it is classical. It connects to the people of today, but a little differently with the same purpose. A person who has a crush on someone who is already going out with another person would say, "I wish that person would love me like he/she loves the other person." This is the typical situation of today's world. Overall this poem is very classical from the sense of being romantic.

Catullus 51

Through this poem you see many different prospectives from which Catullus writes about. The different prospectives cause Catullus to show many feelings. At the very beginning, Catullus talks from a prospective of viewing two people talking with each other. One person is Lesbia which he "loves", and the other is a man she is with. Catullus at this point is very upset because he sees his "lover", Lesbia, with a man that is paying very close attention to her. In the poem its says the man is listening and watching, but the way Catullus writes it, it seems the man likes Lesbia. Next, Catullus talks from his own prospective. He starts to explain his own feelings about what he is watching. Catullus says he doesn't have a voice when he looks at Lesbia, along with a numb tongue. He goes on to say that many other things happen to him like; a thin flame penetrates under my skin, my ears are ringing with their own sounds, and my ears are covered by a dark night. These feelings he is describing shows that he loves Lesbia very much and he hates seeing her with another man. Finally, he is still in his own prospective but he talks about the use of free time. In the actual poem he uses the word leisure which I see as a more romantic word. I think he uses this because this poem is about loving Lesbia. Catullus says that leisure time is annoying to him. Free time is annoying to Catullus because he sees his "love" with another man which tears him apart. Later on he thinks leisure time has destroyed kings and cities before him. I believe he said this because he sees himself as a king that has a city and Lesbia as his queen. Through the use of leisure time, his dream has been destroyed.