Notes on The Erotic Poems

(Originally Written October 2, 2009 in the Journal)

Notes on The Erotic Poems by Ovid

"He's so human he tears you apart"

The Amores: Book I

I. "His shafts - worse luck for me - never miss their target. I'm on fire now, love owns the free hold of my heart" (Ovid, 86)

II. "Heart skewered/by shafts of desire, the raging" (Ovid, 87)

"Play stubborn, you get a far more thorough going-over than those who admit they're hooked [on love]" (Ovid, 88)

III. "Fair's fair now, Venus. This girl's got me hooked. All I'm asking from her is love or at least some future hope for my own. Eternal devotion, no even that's too much - Hell, just let me love her" (Ovid, 88)

"Unswerving fidelity's my strong suit" (Ovid, 88)

VIII.

"Ah, that got a blush! Pale face needs color, but nature's method is so unpredictable, safer to stick to art" (Ovid, 98).

The Amores: Book II

II. "All we need is your consent to some quiet love-making. It's hard to imagine a more harmless request" (Ovid, 114).

IV. Compare this poem to Baudelaire or even the Marquis de Sade for unrivaled hedonism.

It is hysterical though - "My sex-life runs the entire mythological gamut" (Ovid, 116).

VI. Write a short story based on this.

VII. "How I wish I'd some genuine infidelity on my conscience - the guilty find punishment easier to take" (Ovid, 120).

IXb. "Girls are such exquisite hell when desire's slaked, when I'm sick of the whole business, some kink in my wretched nature drives me back.

XVII. I really like this poem.

"I shan't be an accusation you're glad to get rid of; our love won't ever require disowning".

XIX. This is savagely humorous

The Amores: Book III

I. "My subconscious is hatching a masterpiece" (Ovid, 139)

II.

"To sit at your side and talk with you is what I'm after - I want you to know the havoc you've wrought in my heart."

Poem II is my concept of dating in lines 2-8

"Help this new venture, Venus: soften my prospective mistress till she loves me or anyway till she let's me love her!"

VII. Seven is an ode to impotency. Very funny!

XIa. This is how I feel about my ex