Poem 86

In Poem 86, Cattullus writes about another woman named Quintia is is thought beautiful and just like the woman who was thought beautiful in poem 43, Catullus insults her beauty because he isn’t happy about the idea that others think there is someone beautiful besides Lesbia. This poem is also similar to both poems 43 and 22 in that Catullus is insulting someone but he first focuses on something good about that person. In poem 86, he admits that Quinita is tall and fair skinned which are both beautiful traits and admits that Quintia has beautiful features but then goes on to say that all of Quintia’s beautiful features combined are not beautiful. Again, Catullus is insulting someone in a less harsh way just like in poem 43 when he used double negatives to insult the other woman or in poem 22 when he first admitted that the poet was a very well spoken man. Personally, this poem reminded me of a song by Shania Twain called “That Don’t Impress me Much”. In the song, she admits really goods things about a guy, like ‘so you’re a rocket scientist’ or ‘so your Brad Pitt’ and then says ‘that don’t impress me much’ which is exactly what Catullus is doing in poem 86. He say’s Quintia may be tall and may be fair skinned and those are beautiful features but Quintia is still not beautiful to him.