Poem 85 (I Hate and I Love) by Catullus
Poem 85, known as "I Hate and I Love," is a work by the Roman poet Catullus that explores the intense and conflicting emotions associated with love and hate. The poem opens with the speaker expressing both feelings simultaneously, posing the question of why this dichotomy exists but admitting to an inability to explain it. This duality is a central theme, as the poem juxtaposes the feelings of love (amo) and hate (odi), alongside other contrasting elements such as knowing (scio) and not knowing (nescio). The speaker conveys a sense of torment, illustrated by the phrase "I am crucified," emphasizing the pain that arises from these conflicting emotions.
Scholars have noted the poem's structural balance, often described in terms of chiastic form, where opposites are interconnected, creating a symmetrical aesthetic. This characteristic sets Poem 85 apart from other works by Catullus that focus on singular emotional experiences, such as passionate love or deep sorrow, particularly those involving the figure of Lesbia. As such, Poem 85 encapsulates the complexity of human emotions, presenting a nuanced reflection on the turmoil that love can incite. It invites readers to consider the intertwined nature of love and hate, suggesting that such feelings can coexist and profoundly impact one's emotional state.
Poem 85 (I Hate and I Love) by Catullus
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of World Literature, Revised Edition
First published: Written: First century b.c.e. (collected in The Poems of Catullus: A Bilingual Edition, 2005)
Type of work: Poem
The Work
“Odi et amo. quare id faciam fortasse requiris./ Nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.” has been translated as “I hate and love. Why I do so, perhaps you ask./ I know not, but I feel it, and I am in torment.” The final word, excrucior, has also been translated literally as “I am crucified.”
Poem 85 is popularly associated with a famous poem by the seventeenth century English satirist Tom Brown: “I do not love thee, Dr. Fell,/ The reason why I cannot tell;/ But this I know, and know full well,/ I do not love thee, Dr. Fell.” More likely, Brown’s poem was actually an imitation of an epigram by Martial.
Many scholars have observed that Poem 85 embodies a particular kind of symmetry achieved by balancing opposites. There is opposition between the negative odi (hate) and the positive amo (love); there also is opposition between sentio (feel) and excrucior (am crucified). Another set of opposites consists of the active faciam (I do) and the passive fieri (it happens). A final pair includes requiris (you ask) and nescio (I do not know). In every aspect, this brief poem is tightly balanced. Some scholars have even diagrammed what is known as chiastic form in the poem, with lines connecting the opposites, producing something akin to a cross. At any rate, a distinctive feature of Poem 85 is that it comprises a full gamut of emotions, whereas each of the poems that explicitly mentions Lesbia is emotionally exclusive, expressing passionate love, pathetic sorrow, moral condemnation, or furious hatred.
Bibliography
Arnold, Bruce, Andrew Aronson, and Gilbert Lawall. Love and Betrayal: A Catullus Reader. Student ed. Lebanon, Ind.: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2000.
Balmer, Josephine. Chasing Catullus: Poems, Translations, and Transgressions. Chester Springs, Pa.: Tarset, 2004.
Burd, Aubrey. Catullus: A Poet in the Rome of Julius Caesar. With a selection of Catullus’s poems translated by Humphrey Clucas. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2004.
Catullus. The Poems of Catullus: A Bilingual Edition. Translated, with commentary, by Peter Green. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005.
Fordyce, C. J., ed. Catullus. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
Garrison, Daniel H. The Student’s Catullus. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989.
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