Catullus 5 is a passionate ode to Lesbia and one of the most famous poems by Catullus. The poem encourages lovers to scorn the snide comments of others, and to live only for each other, since life is too brief and death brings on a night of perpetual sleep. Over the centuries, this poem has been translated and imitated many times; its sentiments seem timeless.
Contents
The meter of this poem is hendecasyllabic, a common form in Catullus' poetry.
17th Century translations
In 1601, the English composer, poet and physician Thomas Campion wrote this rhyming free translation of the first half (to which he added two verses of his own, and music, to create a lute song):
Soon thereafter, Sir Walter Raleigh included the following verse, apparently based on Campion's translation, in his The Historie of the World, which he wrote while imprisoned in the Tower of London
Connotations
This is a reference to the gossip going around the Roman Senate, as it was believed that Catullus was having an affair with a senator's wife, known as Clodia Pulchra Tercia. This is also thought to be the woman Lesbia in his poetry. Catullus is urging Clodia to disregard what people are saying about them, so she can spend more time with him. There is also a chiasmus in these lines:
Poetic effects
The position of lux - light, and nox - night right next to each other serve to emphasise his two comparisons. Symbolically, the "perpetual night" represents death and the "brief light" represents life. Furthermore, there is also a second chiasmus in these lines:
Allusions in modern culture
A modern version of this poem is sung in the 1998 French film Jeanne et le garçon formidable {Jeanne and the extraordinary Guy} starring Virginie Ledoyen and Mathieu Demy.
This poem is referenced in Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, according to annotator Alfred Appel, Jr.'s annotation. Nabokov quotes the poem twice in Bend Sinister.
The line nox est perpetua una dormienda is translated, "night without end" in Joseph Conrad's short story The End of the Tether.
The line nox est una dormienda is a recurring theme in Anthony Burgess's novel The Kingdom of the Wicked.
Nox Dormienda is the name of a novel by Kelli Stanley.
The line nox est perpetua una dormienda is quoted in the 'Present Day' chapter of Virginia Woolf's The Years.
Mike Engleby translates this poem as part of his entrance exam to Chatfield in Sebastian Faulks' novel Engleby.
This poem and its translation by Richard Crashaw is referenced in the 1991 Diana Gabaldon novel Outlander.
A portion of this poem from "soles occidere..." to "Da mi basia mille" is used in Aldous Huxley's novel Island.
This poem was set to music by Carl Orff as part of his Catulli Carmina (1943).
A character remembering the line "nox est perpetua una dormienda" forms a key plot development in John Crowley's Daemonomania.
"Nox Perpetua Dormienda" is the title of a poem by New Zealand poet R.A.K. Mason (1905-1971).
This poem is paraphrased in The Elder Scrolls Online, with a title reminiscent of Catullus 2, "An Ode to the Red Bird".