Week 4: Specialty Words

If you read enough of an author, you begin to notice subtle or not so subtle patterns in his/her writing. Those patterns might be thing like the clear, short, straightforward sentences of a Hemingway, or lengthy, complex sentences describing scenes in great detail like Mellville. The same is true for Latin authors and Latin poets in particular. We can notice patterns in meter, and we can notice patterns in themes (like poems about how much Catullus loves Lesbia). We can notice that certain Latin authors favor or repeat certain word order in their verses. And, we can notice specialty words. I am calling specialty words those words that show up often, or which seem to be the central word or words that give a particular poem its focus.

Consider the 6 poems that we have studied in the "Catullus Lesbiam Amat" theme (51, 5, 7, 86, 43 and 2) and identify what you think are the "specialty" words. And then, comment on how these words enable Catullus to talk about his love for Lesbia. How would these very same poems change if these specialty words were deleted.

Magister Patricius

Septimana Tertia: Ad formam et venustatem discernendum

Catullus noster scripsit Quintiam esse formosam, sed nullam venustatem habere (Carmen 86). Secundum Catullum in carminibus nostris (51, 5, 7, 86) quid est forma? Quid est venustas? Explica duobus vel tribus exemplis ex carminibus differentiam inter formam et venustatem. Quomodo Lesbia exemplum venustatis est?

Magister Patricius

Week 2: What is a life?

This week we have read Carmen 51 and Carmen 5. We have listened to Catullus' description of what simply looking at his lady does to him, and we have heard him describe human life as a brief light that, when it sets, must sleep the sleep that must be slept. And then he calls for all those kisses!

Consider this poem written in English by Mary Oliver (which, magically, I just received from a friend by email while we were studying Carmen 5), and then try your hand at answering the question "what is a life?". According to the Catullus of 51, what is a life? According to the Catullus of 5, what is a life? According to Mary Oliver, what is a life? Try and keep your comments focused and concise. Do you share these views of life, or not?

Enjoy!

Magister Patricius

The Summer Day
Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
from New and Selected Poems, 1992
Beacon Press, Boston, MA
© 1992 by Mary Oliver.
All rights reserved.

Week 1: What is Poetry?

Daniel Garrison states in his commentary on the meter of Catullus that "without sound, poetry ceases to exist". He says earlier that "poetry is rhythmic sound married to meaning", making it clear that poetry is this mysterious melding of words, and not just any words--but meaningful words--and rhythm.

Rhythm requires sound. So, what does this say to a culture where we largely do our reading in silence? Have we become a society without poetry? Do we live, now, in our modern age, without the beauty, power, mystery and magic of poetry? Has poetry ceased to exist in us? When do Americans hear, speak, and relish "rhythmic sound married to meaning?" And as for the Latin classroom, what are the implications for Latin students of any age, any place, where the language is never spoken or read aloud, where all that is done to it is translation into English? Has Latin poetry "ceased to exist"?

What say you?

Magister Patricius

Praecepta et Mandata

This blog is going to be our collective journal as we work on, work with, read, recite and ruminate on the poems of Catullus. Here are some basic rules for how we will do this:

1) I will post a comment or reflection each Friday about something we've done that week. This might be on a single poem, or on a theme in several poems. It might be on the message of the poem, on words that Catullus has used, or on some nagging grammar issue.

2) You are expected to respond to what I write with a thoughtful response. Your response should be PRIMARILY to what I have written and to the work of Catullus, and if it seems to aid in our conversation, you may refer to, remark on, or respond to a comment of one of your classmates.

3) If I write in English, you must respond in English. Si Latine scripsero, Latine tibi respondendum erit.

4) You will receive a weekly grade for your blog-comment based on the following rubric:

18-20--High Quality--comments include insight into the work of Catullus, into teacher's
comment. Shows independent thought, insight and creativity with the issues.

16-17--Good Quality--comments touch on the work of Catullus, the teacher's comment, and
make a coherent point worth considering. Shows steady progress with the issues.

15--Acceptable Quality--comments basically reiterate class discussion or teacher's
comments but make no real contribution to the discussion. Shows that the student
has grasped the basic ideas of the discussion.

14--Poor Quality--comments are only slightly connected to the work of Catullus or to the
teacher's comments. Shows that the student is not grasping the basic ideas of the
discussion.

10--No Quality--student made no comment for this week's work by the deadline.

5) As you can see from the rubric, only regurgitating my ideas will get you a "C". I am not interested in you agreeing with me. I am interested that you use the works of Catullus and my comments as a jumping off place to do some of your own thinking about his poetry and our work on it.

6) Comments must be posted by 10:00 PM on the Monday following my Friday post. This gives you the weekend and Monday to comment. By then, we will have started another week's work. Be aware that I have set up this blog to time stamp every entry. Entries posted after the deadline will not be accepted.

7) All comments are moderated before they are posted. This is largely to protect our work from spammers and those who might not share similar interests in this work. Individuals outside our class may post here, but they must be on topic.

8) Should have said this first: in order to post comments, you must join this blog. Please do not use your full name in creating a user name. After you have joined, I will get your user name in class so that I can identify you.

My intention in creating this blog is to raise the level of our conversation and reflection on this classical literature--something that we always don't have time to do in class, but in a way that allows all of use to participate and be heard.

Magister Patricius