Page "Catullus" Paragraph 20

Catullus's poetry was influenced by the innovative poetry of the Hellenistic Age, and especially by Callimachus and the Alexandrian school, which had propagated a new style of poetry that deliberately turned away from the classical epic poetry in the tradition of Homer.

Cicero called these local innovators neoteroi ( νεώτεροι ) or ' moderns ' ( in Latin poetae novi or ' new poets '), in that they cast off the heroic model handed down from Ennius in order to strike new ground and ring a contemporary note.

Catullus and Callimachus did not describe the feats of ancient heroes and gods ( except perhaps in re-evaluating and predominantly artistic circumstances, e. g. poems 63 and 64 ), focusing instead on small-scale personal themes.

Although these poems sometimes seem quite superficial and their subjects often are mere everyday concerns, they are accomplished works of art.

Catullus described his work as expolitum, or polished, to show that the language he used was very carefully and artistically composed.