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  • Catullus 15 An Easier Prose Adaptation
    Latin Short Stories

    Catullus 15: An Easier Prose Adaptation

    January 16, 2023

    One of the things I find most charming about reading Catullus’ poetry is how very conversational and chatty he is in his poetry. Even when he’s obscene and he’s writing in meter, he comes across as colloquial. I can frequently imagine him talking to his friends. Catullus 15 is one such poem where it’s relatively easy to take his poem and adapt it to prose. This, though, isn’t one I would personally read with students. Sometimes friends say things, after all, that they don’t want other people to hear. Unless you’re Catullus, in which case, you turn it into a poem that people read for millennia.

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    Rachel

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    July 23, 2022
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    Catullus 10 an easier prose adaptation

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  • Catullus 14B Prose Adaptation
    Latin Short Stories

    Catullus 14B: A Prose Adaptation

    January 2, 2023

    Fragments of poetry catch me off guard in this project. What exactly am I supposed to do with three lines of charming verse to would-be readers (who are in fact readers of the poetry, which I find delightful). In Catullus 2B, I turned a handful of lines into something drawn out and playful between Lesbia and Catullus. Here, I have Catullus at the beginning of a recital of his poetry. It’s short and sweet, much like the fragment itself.

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    Rachel

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    Catullus 4 an easier prose story

    Catullus 4: An Easier Prose Story

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  • Catullus 14 An Easier Prose Adaptation
    Latin Short Stories

    Catullus 14: An Easier Prose Adaptation

    December 26, 2022

    I like to confess my own limitations as I read these poems. One, I think it’s helpful to know you’re not alone if you read something and are confused (I was utterly flummoxed by Catullus 4 on my first read). Two, I think it’s a helpful reminder to myself and to others that poetry in another languages is sometimes just hard. So, I got a little lost here even though I understood a lot of the vocabulary and the grammar, I was missing the bigger picture. Just because a reader understands all the words (or most of the words), doesn’t mean that they will comprehend the main idea.

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    Rachel

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    Fabula Brēvis: Diāna et Actaeōn

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    Iuno et Vulcanus

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  • Catullus 13 an easier prose adaptation
    Latin Short Stories

    Catullus 13: An Easier Prose Adaptation

    December 13, 2022

    Catullus trolls his friend Fabullus by inviting him to a swanky dinner—if only he’d bring all its components, from the salt to the entertainment. It’s a fun poem, and it has some great tie ins to the fly coming out of the empty wallet. Who knew insects were associated with being broke for so long? I certainly didn’t the first time I read this poem years and years and years ago in college. I remember the verb afferre giving me some trouble, especially that funky future perfect form, so it gets lots of repetitions in a variety of forms for this short adaptation. I also set this poem in the…

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    Rachel

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    Catullus 12 an easier prose adaptation

    Catullus 12: An Easier Prose Adaptation

    November 22, 2022

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  • Catullus 12 an easier prose adaptation
    Latin Short Stories

    Catullus 12: An Easier Prose Adaptation

    November 22, 2022

    In this world of fast fashion, Walmart stores, and Dollar Generals, it’s easy to understand why are students are flummoxed by the value of cloth. Flummoxed is perhaps a generous description. It’s inconceivable and unfathomable to them that cloth should be so expensive. I particularly enjoyed it when I told my students that wills sometimes included clothing. When I read Catullus 12, in which Marrucinus Asinius steals some cloth napkins from Catullus, I had the expense of the theft tickling the back of my mind, though Catullus claims he’s upset because they’re gifts from dear friends. We have disposable napkins; Catullus had disposable guests. For this easier prose adaptation of…

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    Rachel

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    Catullus 4: An Easier Prose Story

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    Catullus 11 An Easier Prose Adaptation

    Catullus 11: An Easier Prose Adaptation

    November 15, 2022
  • Catullus 11 An Easier Prose Adaptation
    Latin Short Stories

    Catullus 11: An Easier Prose Adaptation

    November 15, 2022

    After a three-week hiatus in which I helped put on a play and then had surgery (or was getting ready for it), I’m back with an easier prose adaptation for Catullus 11. I must confess to being particularly saucy in this poem’s adaptation and putting on quite a display of heckling. I may or may not have had the Muppets in mind.

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    Rachel

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    Catullus 12 an easier prose adaptation

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    Catullus 15 An Easier Prose Adaptation

    Catullus 15: An Easier Prose Adaptation

    January 16, 2023
    Romanum Ientaculum

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  • Catullus 10 an easier prose adaptation
    Latin Short Stories

    Catullus 10: An Easier Prose Adaptation

    October 24, 2022

    In Catullus 10, Catullus gets his comeuppance for attempting to pretend to be wealthier than he really is in order to impress his friend Varus’ puella. He fails miserably and reacts a little bit petulantly when his ruse fails. This poem, too, has a content warning, but it is far more tame than the painful (to me) Catullus 6.

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    Rachel

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  • Catullus 9 An Easier Prose Adaptation
    Latin Short Stories

    Catullus 9: An Easier Prose Adaptation

    October 17, 2022

    Aww, Catullus has a BFF, and he’s so excited he’s come back safe and sound! Basically, that’s the heart of this poem in a nutshell: Catullus’ BFF Veranius has come back from a campaign in Iberia. When messages would have been few and far between, the sudden appearance of a beloved friend back in town would have been such a boon. Heck, I’m excited I’ll have a friend I haven’t seen in a couple of years in town next week, and I can text her and email her whenever I want to, nor has she been fighting in a dangerous campaign.

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    Rachel

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    Catullus 11 An Easier Prose Adaptation

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  • Catullus 8 An Easier Prose Story
    Latin Short Stories

    Catullus 8: An Easier Prose Story

    October 10, 2022

    I would write that it’s the beginning of the end, but I have no idea whether that’s true. I generally have no clue what happens in Lesbia and Catullus’ relationship beyond what I’ve already read. I hope I haven’t just written an epic break up scene that rewinds here in another poem or two. Lesbia deserves to be resolute in her decision (as it does seem to have been her decision in my reading).

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    Catullus 7 An Easier Prose Adaptation

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  • Catullus 7 An Easier Prose Adaptation
    Latin Short Stories

    Catullus 7: An Easier Prose Story

    October 3, 2022

    This poem picks up where Catullus 6 leaves off, returning to the question of when love and kisses might ever be enough. I envisioned the scene loosely on the same evening, una perpetual nox dormienda, with some pillow talk between the two of them.

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    Rachel

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