Pyramus et Thisbe 55-104

In this poem there are many walls, physical ones and various metaphorical ones.
First, there's the wall itself between their homes. It separates Pyramus and Thisbe by just being there. Although it separates them, it also is the only way for them to talk, which is pretty ironic. It keeps them from seeing and touching eachother but allows them to speak through a small crack, "fissus erat tenui rima, quam duxerat olim, cum fieret, paries". The other physical wall is the one which Semiramis surrounded the city with, "ubi dicitur altam coctilibus muris cinxisse Semiramis urbem". This wall separates the wilderness from the city where all the people live.
In a more poetic and metaphorical sense, there is another wall..the one that the fathers of Pyramus and Thisbe have created by forbidding them to be married, "sed vetuere patres".
Pyramus and Thisbe are separted by so many things, you can tell that they are not suppose to be together and maybe even that these things are the only way to stay safe.

Pyramus et Thisbe (55-77)

To start, Pyramus and Thisbe has to be seen as a classic work considering it is still remembered and that it's basic plot/scenes was borrowed in William Shakespeare's epic play Romeo and Juliet. Other than that, the poem itself is captivating.
Ovid uses a lot of rhetorical devices and figures of speech while expressing his intended explanation of transformation. The most fascinating, in my opinion, was his onomatopoeia in line 68 and into line 69. "vIdistis amantEs, et vOcis fEcistis". The repetition of 's' very much resembles the secret lovers whispering through the crack. He also uses a rhetorical question: "quid nOn sentit amor?". Not very fascinating but very much true. When you're in love, especially a concealed love, you will definitely notice anything that would allow your love to not be as confined. And lastly, in the beginning of the poem, the very first lines in fact, he uses chiasmus. "iuvenum pulcherrimus alter...altera...praelAta puellIs". What I think is interesting here, specifically, is not only his use of chiasmus but that it almost resembles Pyramus on one side of the wall and Thisbe on the other, "iuvenum" is on the far left(in its order) while "puellIs" is on the far right. When you look at the two lines together, it really does appear that one is on one side and the other is on the other side.

8 (limerick)

Catullus was so full of passion,
By Lesbia his heart took a lashin',
He chose to end his sadness,
Since his life was now crapness,
So now his life can be smashin'.

75

The past few poems we've been working with are all about the same thing: Lesbia's infidelity and the affect it has on Catullus. He still cannot respect her nor can he stop his love for her. He's destroying himself, torturing himself, he can't get out of this. It seems to me he's stuck and confused. He knows what Lesbia did is wrong, obviously, since he's not able to respect her any longer but he can't find the strength to end it with her. I think the theme here is his passion, but now in a different sense than it was in the poems where he was saying give me a thousand kisses, nobody can be loved more than he loves Lesbia, and so on. Now, this new and to me more intense passion deals with him not being able "desistere amare". His love is no longer the mushy, touchy feely, super romantic stuff. It's serious now, she's hurt him and it's like even though the respect and the liking isn't there, it's stronger since he knows it can't be stopped, not even by himself.
I love how he uses "si optima fias" and "omnia si facias" to support what he's saying. They are opposites, being the best and doing all the worst, but they both make sense together for what he's trying to get out. Also they both have 'si' and words dealing with making/becoming. It plays with the idea of balance, Catullus seems to balance his poems out all the time. It's interesting how he puts the infinitives "bene velle" and "desistere amare" almost right on top of eachother, again balancing themselves. The verbs/nouns in a lot of his poems usually are balanced in this way or another, their position opposite eachother like in 51 or with two opposite words as in 72.

85

He starts with a paradox: 'Odi et amo'. The only ways these verbs are similar are in person and that they are feelings. If you're in love, you're not hating but if you are hating, you are not in love. How is it possible to do both? Well, the only way to love and hate is if something happened like in poem 72. This is clearly a reflection of the situation that occured in poem 72. He 'odi et amo' because Lesbia no longer 'solum..nosse Catullum'. Not only that but he is tortured by the feelings he's forced to feel. This poem really reminds me of a show I have connected to before, The OC. Seth smoked when Summer, his girlfriend, repeatedly told him not to do so. Obviously smoking isn't at the same level as cheating but cheating is implied that you won't do it and Summer explicitly told him not to do that. In the show, Summer wanted to take him back but she was too hurt that he would do something she clearly didn't approve of. What I wanted to specifically connect to was that Summer appeared to be tortured by it because she loved Seth, in the same way Catullus loved Lesbia, but couldn't help feeling hurt. In both situations, the lover was hurt and even though what the other did was horrible they couldn't help but be with them. In the real world, the same thing happens. Lovers are constantly powerless, when actually in love, to leave their partner even if they've done a horrible thing like cheating.

72

Catullus loves literary games. He always does little things that at first glance you may not notice. In 51 he puts 'ille' and 'te' opposite from eachother and in the poem he specifically says that that guy was sitting opposite her(Lesbia). In this poem he plays with the words of to know. He uses 'nosse', the word that has intimate connotation but uses 'cognovi', the word with a meaning of him finding out or learning about her, obviously that shows he has figured something out. Using the different wordes of to know make me notice that Lesbia now knows(intimately) somebody else: it sheds light on the situation. It is now evident this poem is about cheating on your significant other. What I really found to be fascinating, however, was his conclusion of the matter. He does not seem angry that this has happened, I got more a feel of hurt. He is forced to feel more love for her(unwillingly because she definitely hurt him) since now he knows their bond is so strong she can't make him stop loving her. He was made jealous so it makes sense that since he is powerless to end the love, he can no longer hold her at the high respect she was held at before. This is definitely true because I know that if I was in this situation and I truly loved the person I most likely wouldn't just stop loving them but I wouldn't be able to respect them as much. What I just said also influences that this is truly classsic since the things he's referring to can connect to me.

86

This poem is another one which point is to show how Lesbia is overwhelmingly beautiful and beyond compare. It reminds me a lot of poem 43, where he bad-mouthed a girl when she was compared to Lesbia. In this poem, he compares Lesbia to Quintia to prove her beauty, sortof the opposite of what happened in poem 43 but the general concept of both is the use of comparison to exemplify Lesbia's radiance. Also like in poem 43 he denounces Quintia at first to later make Lesbia seem much more beautiful. The biggest difference I think there is, however, is that he seemed to have hated the girl in poem 43 but here he respects her but doesn't think she is beautiful since Lesbia is the most beautiful. Also, in poem 43 he says her 'walk' is sloppy but Quintia's is 'upright'. These are just the comparisons of the two poems, though.
It is obvious that Catullus thinks Lesbia is very graceful and fine, but it's pretty arrogant of him to publicy impugn these girls/people to proclain her beauty. Catullus seems to enjoy publicly humiliating people he for whatever reason doesn't like. Like obviously in poem 43 like I already compared, when he asked the rhetorical question "ten provincia narrat esse bellam", and in poem 69 with "quare aut crudelem nasorum interfice pestem aut admirari desine cur fugiunt." In this poem he still criticizes but it seems to like her a bit more.