Catullus in Strange and Distant Britain

Though from time to time in the course of this study attention is centered upon the indirect influence of Catullus through other poets, my main purpose has been to determine to what extent the Carmina were directly used as sources by English writers. On occasion when there has been a remarkable analogy of thought and phrasing whose source is not clearly discernible, I have felt it desirable, because of the fascinating possibilities, to dwell on the similarity for a moment, planting, as it were, a little fingerpost to point the way for further reflection. On the other hand, I have made no attempt to speculate as to what English metrics and English poetry would have been if Catullus had not written his dainty Phalaeceans and Glyconics, his matchless songs of passion and sorrow polished with pumice stone. -- Introduction.