Catullus 85

This poem is one of the shorter poems that were made by Catullus, but he was able to give out a deep meaning from it by using eight verbs total. Verbs, such as amo and odi, show all the emotions that he is going through and how confusing the whole situation is to the character. Not to mention that love and hate are two polar opposites. The theme of the poem is despair, which is supported by second line, "nescio, sed fieri sento et excrucior," where the character admits to himself being tortured by conflicting emotions. Just as in poem 72, Catullus has his character faced with conflicting feelings for Lesbia by making love and hate go against each other.

Catullus 72

Catullus balances out many of his word choices in this poem. For example, he balances out Catullum and Iovem, to get the message across that he was more superior to Lesbia than the top god himself. He also uses this balances of words for impensius and vilior/levior to describe his burning love for her, even though she is cheaper and worth less than the character Catullus. Using these word choices help Catullus make the message of passion and despair come out more clearly.

Haiku:
I am torn in two
knowing the true side of you,
but can't let you go

Catullus 86

Catullus, unlike in poem 43, takes on a different tone to compare a girl by the name of Quintia and Lesbia. In the other poem, he was quick to use negative comments such as calling her a girl with "neither a small nose, beautiful feet, long finger..." However, in this poem, Catullus starts the poem off by naming off more positive attributes of the Quintia, such as her being "fair skinned (which indicates her wealth, due to her lack working in the sun), tall, and stately." In this poem, Catullus is generous in his compliments, before leaving a subtle 'but...' towards the middle, to compare Lesbia and her, and to show what she is missing that Lesbia has. Catullus was able to get his main message across of Lesbia being the more beautiful of the two, but this time, he opted to write it without as much of a scornful tone.

Comparison of Poem 43 & Poem 22

When reading the both of these poems, I noticed a similarity in tone that Catullus uses. In poem 43, he mocks the girl who is supposedly more beautiful than Lesbia and mocks society for viewing her as someone elegant and perfect. In Poem 22, Catullus' victim is a clean cut, well-bred man by the name of Suffenus. His flaw, however, is his poor writing skills. His poems are just the opposite of what society view him as: clumsy, awkward, and poor quality.
The connection drawn here is that Catullus finds society's views and opinions to be worthless, in a way, and flawed. What they see as perfect examples of grace and beauty may actually be bland and pathetic in others' views. He seems to mock those he doesn't find worthy and points out their flaws quite bluntly. His opinions in both of these poems are easy to find.

Catullus 92

In this poem, Catullus continues to write about the love between the Lesbia and the character Catullus to be legitimate because she won't stop talking about him (even though the things she says aren't very nice). This sort of reasoning can be connected back to poem 83, where Catullus states that Lesbia's ranting and anger shows a revealing emotion. It seems that he has to reassure himself of this, however.
Even in our own lives today, if something goes wrong we try to make sense of it in order to make it seem less bad. When kids are younger and someone is picking on them, the parents make the common statement of "That means (s)he like you." This is sort of reasoning that Catullus might be going at. However, there is always the possibility that Lesbia might be saying all these bad things about Catullus in order to give him a hint that her feelings might have gone down for him. The true extent of the characters feelings is still being doubted and questioned in this poem.

Catullus 87

Catullus is starting to make his poems be more about the admiration and love he has for Lesbia, rather than his desperation to be with her. His poems have taken on a change since the first one, poem about "that guy." Also, the poem has gone done in the number of lines he writes.
This poem also has a big contradiction with poem 92. In this poem, Catullus states that Lesbia and the character Catullus are in deep love, and that there is no greater love between the two. In poem 92 however, there seems to be some doubt if the love really is true, by stating, "May I perish if she doesn't love me." In a way, it seems like he needs to assure himself that the love is really true. Which can go back to a central theme of doubt and paranoia about love.

Catullus 5

In this poem, Catullus decides to take a different tone in his writing. Here he decides to talk about how days come and go, and that the time you spend on Earth should be taken advantage of. In this case, kissing is the best way to make your time on Earth worthwhile.
At first, the poem takes a lighthearted sort of go about it, with telling Lesbia that they should be happy and not bother with worthless rumors of old men. Then, the poem takes a turn of saying how life can be cut short, into an eternal sleep. After this, kissing is requested. Catullus then seems to become more paranoid and scared of envious onlookers, so he decides that they should not bother with keeping up on how many kisses were shared.
The themes of jealousy and a sort of paranoia pop up in this poem quite a bit, with the tone staying light up until the end. In earlier poems, the same sorts of things have been seen, but Catullus never looked at life in such a philosophical matter before, such as saying the sun will set on our time and bring us into an eternal sleep (AKA death). Death hasn't ever been mentioned before, so the questions of him bringing it up arise.