Mourning

The loss of a loved one is hard, but it has inspired some very beautiful poetry. This selection begins with Catullus’s

farewell to a beloved brother.

In this poem, the inspiration for a famous English translation, Callimachus remembers his

poet-friend, Heraclitus.

Catullus expresses both consolation and desire in his half-serious lament for

Lesbia’s sparrow.

Archilochus, the seventh-century BCE warrior-poet, explains that

loss must be endured.

Finally, in the Elysian fields Aeneas is shown Marcellus, Augustus’s tragically short-lived

heir-to-be.

See the index to Pantheon Poets’ selections of poetry on a theme here.

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