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.