Although his audacious, erotic, and satirical verses survived the Middle Ages in only a single copy, Catullus has become in our time a canonical author, ranking in popularity and importance with Virgil, Horace, and Ovid. And for students and teachers of Latin, Daniel H. Garrison’s The Student’s Catullus is a definitive introductory text. This fourth edition, thoroughly revised, makes Catullus’ famous poems more accessible than ever.
A comprehensive reference, The Student’s Catullus includes the following features:
· A brief overview of Catullus’s life and artistic persona
· A fresh recension of all 113 poems
· A commentary in English on each poem, explaining difficult points of Latin and salient aspects of Catullus’ artistry
· A Who’s Who of the people in Catullus’ poems
· An explanation of Catullan meters
· A glossary of literary terms used in the commentary
· A complete Latin-English Catullan vocabulary
· Six reference maps
New to this fourth edition are dozens of additional notes to aid comprehension, more nuanced definitions in the vocabulary list, and amplified information in the appendices. In addition, Garrison has expanded his introduction to include tips for students and teachers. Drawing on years of classroom experience, Garrison urges readers to avoid rote translation and instead engage thoroughly with the poet’s delightful language, syntax, structure, and rhythm.
