Andrew Chi

Catullus Poem LXII Analysis - Outline

Summary of Overall Sense:

- A woman steals Catullus' notebooks
- Catullus employs the help of his Hendecasyllables to get them
back
- Catullus at first tries to get his notebooks back by 'flagitatio'
- When he realizes he is getting nowhere, he changes tactics

English Literary Points:

- There is a case of alliteration in line 5, as 'pugillaria si pati
potestis'
- And again in line 7, as 'quae sit quaeritis. illa quam'
- And again in line 8 as 'mimice ac moleste', which also has a bit
of consanance
- And once again in lines 23-4, as 'potestis. pudica et proba'
- There is also an ellipsis in line 24. The phrase means "Virtuous
lady." However, it is written as 'pudica at proba,' literally
meaning "Modest and good." In this case, Catullus
omits the word for lady.
- Catullus uses hyperbole, as well as simile, in line 10 as 'catuli
ore Gallicani,' translated, "[She has the] face like a
Gallican puppy's."
- There is an anastrophe in lines 12 and 20. The lines before both
of these star with 'moecha putida redde' which is the
proper order, while lines 12 and 20 start with 'redde
putida moecha', the opposite.

Latin Points of Analysis

- In lines 11,12,19, and 20, Catullus uses the word 'moecha.' This
is odd because 'moecha' is a slang term, equivalent to
the English "slut."
- In line 5, Catullus uses the uncommon word 'pugillaria' for his
wooden writing tablets as opposed to the more
commonly used 'pugillares'
- Probably my favourite part of the poem is in line 10. There,
Catullus says 'circumsistite eam et reflagitate' which
means "surround her and demand it back." In this case, the
Hendecasyllable is literally surrounding the pronoun,
her
- Throughout the poem, even in some parts that use nostra
(since line 4 originally had vestra), Catullus
talks in the second person.
- Another reason he uses vestra is because, although the writing
tablets were his, the tablets were nothing more than vessels for
which he poems could be written, effectively making
them the "poem's tablets."
 - In line 22, he plays on the dual meanings of 'modus' and 'ratio'.
They mean "method" and "reason" respectively, but also
"measure" and "calculation"

Personal Reflection
- I enjoyed the humour in this poem
- It was a nice change from all of his love poems
- There were many hidden things in the poem
- Alé stole my original choice

Works Cited

Ellis, Robinson. "XLII." A Commentary on Catullus. Boston: Adamant Media

Corporation, 2005. 167-70. Google Books. Web. 10 Jan. 2011.

Fraenkel, Eduard. "Two Poems of Catullus." The Journal of Roman Studies. Vol. 51.

Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, 1961. 46-53. Parts 1 and 2. JSTOR.

Web. 10 Jan. 2011.

Garrison, Daniel H. The Student's Catullus. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 2004.

Print.

Harris, William. "Catullus Poem 42." Middlebury College: Community Home Page.

Middlebury College. Web. 10 Jan. 2011.

<http://community.middlebury.edu/~harris/catullus.42.html>.

Pedicone, Jason. "Moecha Metrica: Meter Games in Catullus 42." APAClassics.

American Philological Association. Web. 10 Jan. 2011.