Poem 5

Poem 5 can be considered ‘classical’ in many ways. In it, Catullus is saying to Lesbia to love him and not care what other people think. Catullus starts off the poem by saying “let us live”, and then continues to lines two and three saying “let us value all the talk of the old men as a penny”. Catullus then back’s up his first point by saying that humans only have so long to live so that they should live there life how they want to before there time runs out here on earth. Even though Catullus wrote this poem in the 1st century CE, it is a theme that still applies to people living today. There our many songs that exist today that have to do with the very same themes Catullus is trying to present in his poem. For example, one of the first modern songs I thought of when I read this poem was a song by Bonnie Raitt called “Lets Give Them Something to Talk About”. In the song, the basic idea is that people are talking about a relationship and she is saying lets give them to talk about; as in lets not let what other people think bother us, let us make them talk because who cares as long as we are happy. The other song that really came to mind when Catullus is telling Lesbia that they only live once in lines five and six is a song by Rihanna called “Live Your Life”. In her song Rihanna say’s “live your life, ain’t got no time for no haters”. What she means is that you should live your life how you want and not worry about what other people think because life is too short to pay attention to people who don’t like you. So, in poem 5 and in both hit songs, the theme of living your life and not worrying what other people think is dominant. So the fact that Catullus wrote this poem in the 1st century proves the themes are timeless; which makes it classic.