Pyramus and Thisbe

pg 55 # 2

Ovid ends the story with, "for the color of the fruit, when it ripened, was black, and that which remains of the funeral pyre, rests in one urn." The color of the fruit is dark, which also represents their death. Throughout the story darkness has not really been considered a bad thing, it conceals them so that they can be together. When Thisbe leaves the walls of the city she is concealed by the night and soon will be concealed by the shade of the tree where they were going to meet. The dark gives them a chance to be together as they never could in the light. Darkness also represents death, and as they are together in darkness, they are together in death. Light doesn't serve as something good in this story either. Light represents life, and in life Pyramus and Thisbe would never have the chance to be together. Life meant living without the person you loved so both Pyramus and Thisbe killed themselves. With the fruit dark and them dead, they were together at last.

Pyramus and Thisbe

pg 49 #1

Ovid's graphic depiction of Pyramus' death is essential to the story because it is from his collection of metamorphoses. If it weren't for the extreme amount of blood, it wouldn't explain the change in color of the mulberry tree's fruit. The blood had to spurt high into the air so that it would be able to reach the fruit in the tree. It also soaked into the roots. He used the simile of the bursted lead pipes to show how messy the situation actually was, and that the blood would inevitably lget on the tree. This also shows the naivety of young Pyramus, he did not wait to see if what he believed to be really was. He had a deep love for Thisbe, this is why he went to such grusome measures, but if he had been older this would not have been the case. This fits the story completely because he was young and in love and had not yet experienced heartbreak.

Pyramus and Thisbe

In it's entirety lines 105-114 there is a lot of the alliteration of the letter v, "serius egressus vestigia vidit in alto" and " ut vero vestem quoque sanguine." This means that he is repeating the innitial consonant sound of the letter V. This may be to show the saddness of Pyramus.

In line 110 Ovid uses personification. When Pyramus says "My soul is guilty," his soul cannot really be guilty. He gave a quality of humans to something absract, his soul. This puts more emphasis on how guilty he actually is.

In line 114 he uses apostrophe. This means that the character is addressing someone or something that is not really there. Pyramus is asking "whatever lions under this rock" to kill him for what he thinks he did to Thisbe.

Pyramus and Thisbe

There once was a girl named Thisbe

Who hid in a cave none could see

Her love thought she died

So he cried and he cried

And now he no longer can pee

Pyramus and Thisbe

The wall is literally the boundary between Pyramus and Thisbe, it keeps them apart when all they want is to be together. Even though it separates them, it provides a passage for them to talk. A crack that was made previously in the wall, enables them to whisper sweet nothings to each other. Yet, they are still not able to touch or see each other. The wall can also symbolize the young lovers' parents and the young lovers themselves. Their parents refuse to let them see each other or to become married and Pyramus and Thisbe will do anything to get the opposite. The wall can symbolize the refusal of their parents and the rebuttal of the young lovers. It keeps them apart, but in a sense they are together. The wall may also symbolize safety. The wall is the yards of their two houses, so it is a part of their homes. When you think of you home you usually consider it as a place where you are safe and secure. Immediately after leaving those walls, and her home, Lesbia is confronted with danger. The wall can have many different meanings, it just depends on how you look at it.

Pyramus and Thisbe

Ovid uses a rhetorical question in line 68. "What does love not percieve?" is a question that he does not expect an answer to. He uses the question to make the reader think.

In the same line he uses apostrophe. He directly addresses the wall when it is not really there. "- you saw the lovers first, /and you made a passage for their voices;"

He uses pleonasm in line 72. Ovid uses an excess of of words to express an idea. He does not need to use the word mouth when he says "gasping mouth" because the mouth is the only part of the body that can gasp.

Catullus 75

Catullus I still don't understand,
You have been slapped with the back of a hand,
Yet willingly you go back
After her brutal attack,
Now you should leave her as fast as quicksand.

Catullus 8

This poem reminds me of Catullus 51. In the end of 51 Catullus is addressing himself, just like in the beginning of this poem. He does this when he is trying to forget his emotions. In 51 he wanted so badly to be with Lesbia, but when he thought about it he reprimanded himself. He told himself that idleness is a problem for him, because he thinks of Lesbia, and that it had destroyed both kings and cities. In this way he is almost predicting the outcome of their relationship, he spends all his time and effort on Lesbia and then she destroys everything he thought they had. In poem 8 he is reprimanding once again for loving Lesbia. He is telling himself that their relationship is dead and to tell her goodbye. He talks about the sun shining brightly on him which reminds me of poem 5. He talks about the sun dying and in this case it did. He also talks about the sun being able to come back everyday, but in his and Lesbia's case it could never come back. He begins to sort of insult her like he did with other people in many of his poems. He says that no one will want her because she commited a sin, which lets her be held to a lower status. Catullus hates people who are not of the upper class. In the end he starts to trail of and getting sad that Lesbia will be with someone besides him, ut once again he comes back to reprimand himself. This poem is neither in hendecasyllabic meter or elagiac couplets. It is the logest poem we have seen so far and it shows many of Catullus's feelings instead of just one.

Catullus 85

This poem relates a lot to poem 72. In 72 you find out that Lesbia has found another man and in this poem you find out more about Catullus's feelings about her. He still loves her but he hates her ecause he trusted her. The poem is only one elegiac couplet. Even though the poem is short Catullus gets his point across. He does this by using 8 verbs in a 14 word poem. He balances things like hate versus love and 4 verbs per line. Also at the beginning he has two first person singular verbs split by and, and at the end he has two first person singular verbs split by and. He uses the word excrucior to show that he is an immense ammount pain, but he still can't explain his feelings.

Catullus 72

How did you not know,
That she would do this to you?
And yet you love her?

Catullus 86

This poem reminds me a lot of Catullus 43. Catullus makes a list of a woman's features, to then go on to say that Lesbia is prettier than them. The difference in the poems is that in poem 43 Catullus list all the features that make her ugly, and in this poem he lists the features that make her beautiful. This woman reminds me of pageant queens, even though they are pretty they may not be the brightest of people. This shows that Lesbia is not only physically pretty but she also has a good personality. This poem is structurally like poem 43 because of the way Catullus lists the features but poem 43 is in hendecasyllabic meter and poem 86 has elegiac couplets.

Catullus 69

Catullus is so critical of people. What makes him think that hes such a hot-shot? Sure this guy Rufus may smell a little, but did you have to go out and spend your time writing a poem about? Maybe this is Catullus's way of showing how much better he is than Rufus. He proves it to everyone and maybe even to himself that he is better than Rufus because he can write poetry. You have to be elegant to write poetry like Catullus and if you smell you are obviously not of high status. He does the same thing in poem 43, he outlines all the flaws of this girl to show that she shouldn't be considered beautiful. She isn't elegant enough for his taste. He is rude and mean throughout both poems, but there is one difference. Rufus may be able to help himself by cleaning up, but the girl in poem 43 can't change the way she looks. it just seems cruel that he would be so rude to someone over their looks. Maybe that goes to show what he looks for in a person, or maybe Lesbia. The poems aren't very alike in the way they are written either, in 43 he lists all of her bad qualities while in 69 he only talks about Rufus's one.

Catullus 92

This poem reminded me of Everbody Loves Raymond. His parents are always arguing on the show but when it comes down to it in the end they love eachother. It's almost healthy to have a little fighting going on and this is why Catullus isn't bothered. Throughout it all he still believes that Lesia loves him and that's all that matters to him. She is still saying bad things about him, like in poem 83, and he still thinks it is because she is in love with him. I liked the way that Catullus used symmetry in this poem. In lines 2 and 4 he practically repeats himself, but it is effective. It sounds and looks attractive in the poem.

Catullus 87

Once again Catullus is discussing his love for Lesbia. It's still cute how much he says he loves her, who wouldn't want love poems written for them? But I'm starting to dislike Catullus again, all his talk about love is starting to get old. You love her, we get it. Since the first poem he talks about how much he loves her, so he's probably telling the truth that he loves her the most. Maybe he keeps repeating because if he writes it down it will make it more real. Maybe he thinks the love might be too good to be true? Who knows what's going on inside Catullus's head. One thing I did like about this poem was the way Catullus uses the same word, nulla, at the beggining of each sentence. He does this a lot, especially in poem 43 with nec.

Catullus 5

Since the first poem we read Catullus has talked about jealousy. It started with his own and then shifted to people being jealous of him and Lesbia. Throughout the past few poems, as Catullus and Lesbia's relationship gets more defined, Catullus has been starting to grow on me. Of course he was super creepy when he was sitting watching her, but now that he has her, he treats her like a princess. What girl wouldn't want that? He lets her know that he doesn't care about anyone but her by telling her to consider the rumors to be worth a penny. He wants to forget everyone else, with their gossip and envy, and just focus on kissing her as much as he can. I think it's sort of romantic how he picks her over his reputation when she could just go back to her husband and leave him with nothing. I love lines 4-6, where Catullus talks about the sun being able to die and then rise again everyday. This is one of the first times he talks about something greater then just Lesbia. He shows how little we have in life and we have to take what we can (like a thousand kisses) in the moment. He uses hendecasyllabic meter in this poem just like most of what we have read already.

Catullus VII

Oh how strange it is
To hear about you and her
Kissing all the time

Catullus 43

This is the first poem where Lesbia isn't the main focus of the poem, yet she is still involved in it. In his opinion this girl is horrid, but whose to say that Lesbia isn't? We only have Catullus' point of view on what is beautiful. He is saying that thinking this girl is pretty is wrong and that the people who think this are crazy. He asks if the province calls her beautiful and if she is compared to Lesbia. If he is questioning why so many people think she is pretty then she must be somewhat attractive. Catullus may be the crazy one, or he might be blinded by his love for Lesbia. Maybe he only has eyes for her, but why would he want everybody to like Lesbia instead of this girl? He talks about Lesbia as if he possesses her, so maybe he wants to make these people jealous because she is his? He might be trying to make up for all the mean things Lesbia said about him in Catullus 83, to prove to them that she doesn't really think those things. All in all I think Catullus just wants more attention to the fact that he won Lesbia, he wants to boast but no one is listening.

Catullus 103

Lesbia has actually spoken to Catullus! Who would have known from the stalkerish poems he has written so far? He always appears to be off in the distance and finally hes up close and very personal. Not only is Lesbia talking to him but she is also saying she is in love with him. It seems too good to be true and it just might be. Catullus really could be insane and making this whole love story up. This poem is a lot different from the others. He seems almost positive that Lesbia is in love with him in the first three and when she actually says she is he gets apprehensive. He has to ask the gods to make sure she is telling the truth when it seemed like he already knew. The thing that is the same throughout all the poems is how much he wants to be with Lesbia. His love for her has not changed and he prays to the gods because of it. Catullus doesn't tell us what happened to Lesbia's husband or if she even has one anymore. Maybe he hasn't thought that far ahead in his fantasy...

Catullus 83

This is the first poem that Catullus lets us know that Lesbia has a husband, and the first that shows Lesbia even knows he exists. He is convinced that because Lesbia is saying awful things to her husband that she is trying to hide her love for Catullus from him. We don't know if this is true or if Catullus is crazy. While Catullus is talking about her husband he calls him a foolish man and a mule. This shows a bit of jealousy on Catullus's part. Jealousy seems to be anoverriding theme in the first three poems we have read. He is jealous of everyone who gets to be around Lesbia. It seems a little bit creepy to me that Catullus knows she is saying these things just like he creepily watched her and her husband talking in Catullus 51. I feel like he is always sitting in the background watching her. Even in Catullus 2 he is watching her play with her pet bird. Even though Catullus seems happy about Lesbia saying these things it hurts him as well. I don't think anybody could listen to someone cursing about you nonstop and not be negatively affected by it. These feelings show that Catullus isn't completely blinded by the thought of Lesbia being in love with him he knows it might not be true.

Catullus II

Although in this poem Catullus speaks of the relationship between a woman and her pet, it still represents the same longing as Catullus 51. He wishes to be like the lady in this poem like he wishes to be the man in the other. He wants to play with the bird to make him happy just like he wants to be with the woman to make him happy. In this poem he is talking to the sparrow which you find out early on, in Catullus 51 you do not know who he is talking about until the 7th line. Catullus is interesting in losing his pain and sorrow. He says he wants to 'lighten the gloomy cares of his heart,' just like his lady does with her pet sparrow. This poem shows that one can take joy in such a thing like playing with a pet, which is still true today. He talks about feelings rather than events that occurred during that time period, making the poem timeless.

Catullus LI

In this poem Catullus describes the symptoms of love at first sight. What he describes are feelings that many people still feel today. He explains how incompetent you can become when faced with someone you like, or how jealous. Who hasn't had one of those experiences? Catullus loves this woman and all he wants is her. He expresses this through is adoration of her 'sweet smile' and his reactions. He is writing this poem to Lesbia, though you don't find this out until line 7. He intriugues you by not letting you see the whole picture right away. I pulls back the picture one element at a time. This poem was actually a translation of one of Sappho's poems, except for the last few lines. He adds them on showing that even though he loves her he can still think rationally.