Which later Roman poets were influenced by Catullus?

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Catullus exerted a profound influence on the writers of the Augustan Age, who frequently imitated his work, style, and metrical innovations.1

Key Roman poets influenced by Catullus include:

  • Virgil: He imitated Catullus extensively, even incorporating entire lines from his work into the Aeneid.1
  • Horace: While he offered criticism of Catullus, he also drew inspiration from his poetry.12
  • Tibullus and Propertius: Both poets were influenced by Catullus’s development of the "subjective" love elegy, in which the poet expresses his own personal passion. Propertius’s early work, in particular, reflects a strong Catullan inspiration.13
  • Ovid: He followed the tradition established by his predecessors, further refining the elegiac couplet.13
  • Martial: A later poet who both imitated and affectionately commemorated Catullus.1

Additionally, Catullus’s contemporary and friend Licinius Calvus was a fellow member of the Neoterics, a group of poets who shared a commitment to learned, meticulous craftsmanship.2