A Comparative Study Of The Sentiments In The Works Of Sappho And Catullus

Lyric poetry in itself is a bold shift that was made from the practice of the more influential Epic Poetry in Ancient Greece. A legendary lyric poet, who actually pioneered the very concept of lyric poetry was Sappho. And her Roman counterpart (across a sea and a few centuries) was Catullus. But, with the difference in time and space, we see how lyric poetry had progressed and diversified over the years. This note however, focuses more on a particular poet (Catullus) and his works in comparison with Sappho's work(to understand things better). To understand this best, we must spot the difference in the attitude that the poets showed in their works. It is what essentially affected the themes and span of their repertoire. In Sappho's poems we see her sacrificing, or passive nature, in which, despite her longing for companionship, she manages to let them go (finishing school concept). However, Catullus' poems bear a selfish attitude in them. He's always found to be asking for something or the other. Openly. In one, we find him asking Cornelius to recommend his book and appreciate it, in another, seemingly unselfish poem, we eventually and inevitably find him ending the poem with a request to Diana, asking her to nourish them. And his poems for love are nothing but a mad and desperate cry for kisses and shower of affection in numbers that are very much beyond human comprehension. Historians have often attributed Catullus' works to his promiscuous lifestyle and bisexuality. However, I personally find a sense of yearning for something beyond the realm or comprehension of mere language. His impractical requests for love might often force us to judge him as a pervert at times, but it also implies a sense of dissatisfaction. A feeling of emptiness somewhere inside. He sounds like someone on the quest of love, but lost in the labyrinth of lust. He desperately tries to make us understand, in his poems,  that no matter how much you kiss him, his hunger won't be quelled. At such times, he uses terms such as 'mad-hungry' to describe himself. 

Sappho on the other hand, mainly ponders on the theme of letting loved ones to move ahead in their lives and leave her behind. They deal with the emotion of separation, but not necessarily a feeling of emptiness, since we very well know that she had wonderful memories to cherish. Maybe that is why, she didn't have to crave madly for anything, unlike Catullus, who, despite having, what most will say to be more than enough, probably longed for something that everyone had.

In Sappho's poems for Aphrodite, we find a sense of intimacy, where she manages to treat Aphrodite as a peer and quite possessively demands her companionship while longing for those who left her behind. However, most of her poems for Aphrodite had her elaborating the ways of offering libations and sacrifices for her. Thus, we don't really find a one sided relationship, where Sappho dares to treat Aphrodite as her companion, but also the flip side of the coin, where Sappho respects Aphrodite and shows her love for her by offering her libations and sacrifices. 

With Catullus though, it's a different story. Unlike, Sappho, who didn't really have to sing much praises for Aphrodite (as she had a sense of owning or belonging towards her), Catullus doesn't beat around the bush talking about libations and offerings. Instead he challenges that very concept by deciding to hammer the nails home, in a very clear cut way. Instead of writing down detailed poems about offerings, he simply praises the Gods to appease them (which as a matter of fact relays more information about the Gods over the ages unlike stories of offerings, and immortalises them, literally), and in the end places his end of the bargain... A plain request. He decides to be very plain and straightforward in every poem (at least that's how everyone sees him),  but his actual meaning lies in the untold. After all, nobody attributes the virtue of a higher psychological and philosophical understanding to someone who just talks about kisses all day long. It is the fact that the untold parts of his poems speak way more than all the graphic descriptions, that endear him to many critics. If we were even to study his poems about intellectual prowess, we find him aiming poniards of satire at public figures. The poem in which he asks Cornelius to rever his book, he initially guises his work in such a way, that, to the plain seeing eye, would make them think that Catullus is demeaning himself. But, on the very contrary, he cleverly challenges and criticises Cornelius' work, using puns to call them unnecessarily exhaustive. He brings in a sense of competition in this poem, where his incendiary wits obviously win him the battle. He didn't just limit his intellectual duels to his poems on intellect, but also pulled them into his poems on love. In a poem that he dedicated to his memories with his fellow intellectual and poet Licinius, we often find him talking about playing epigrams and intellectual prowess. He even asks Licinius to judge his work, in which he basically rants about his longing for his company. Yet, in the end, we also find him threatening him with the wrath of Nemesis, asking him not to use the provided opportunity, to belittle him. It may be playful in nature, but it does send one message very clearly. It very clearly makes us know that he himself knows, somewhere inside, that even he is vulnerable to criticisms, especially when they question his eloquence at language. He might have probably known blind spots, that weren't visible to most. But, what one can clearly deduce from all of this is that, he himself was never satisfied with his own works, and probably found room for improvement to always be present. As for the sense of competition, it has two possibilities. One is that, he was way too confident about his abilities and wanted to flaunt them everywhere. However, the next point, very logically negates that possibility. The second possibility is that, he wasn't that conceited after all. He probably questioned his own abilities against that of others. However, the possibility for the second one to be true is more, as we find him competing with Licinius in private, away from prying eyes. And in that competition, or space for judgement, his uncertainty regarding his own skills in verse has already been talked about earlier. Most importantly, his ever existent need for competition very clearly shows us that he needed to keep establishing his position, if not before the public, then at least in his own eyes. This also, hints to his undying feeling of emptiness and a quest for something that he never found. Thus, we may also say that Catullus is probably one of the most misunderstood figures in history.

Sappho on the other hand, didn't keep crying for caresses or a physical show of affection. What she mostly spoke about was of nothing but departure. However, Sappho was no different from Catullus in the sense that, she too pioneered in the field of lyric poetry through parodying, by challenging the existing system. This is seen in her poem, 'To an army wife, in Sardines',  where she starts with a question. The question that she ponders on is what she finds most attractive, and worth talking about, a fleet of ship, troops, or her beloved. The rest is history. This is how she openly offered a blow to the conventions and kept stunning the public with every new compositon of hers. However, unlike Catullus, she doesn't play around with a plethora of settings and themes. Instead, she mainly sticks to her poems on separation, longing, memories and Aphrodite. She wasn't as multi faceted, open or challenging and cryptic as Catullus was.
                                                                                                                                                   - Anirban Chakroborti

A bust of Catullus

                                              A likeness of Sappho