Horace's poem Odes 1.33 appealed to me for several reasons. I was moved by the emotions woven into the piece, and expressed through beautiful imagery and allusions. The reader feels the chaotic aspects of love simply by recognizing the way Horace has pieced his poem together.

The first stanza is a unit by itself, as is the last, but the second and third run together. This use of enjambment connects the two stanzas and in a way jumbles them together. This use of poetic device helps express to the reader the poet's chaotic sense of love, and also what love does to people?s lives. I enjoyed the poem, the way it was written, the way it was pieced together, the way it was presented, and wished to translate it so that others can appreciate it as well.

My personal philosophy of translation is not overly complex. Not a poet myself, and having little experience with poetry I have decided to focus on the themes of the poem. The themes of love lost, love confused, and love gained will come across to the audience no matter if I use a rhyme scheme or not. Personally I think if I rhymed the piece it would take away from the original. It is impossible for me to translate into English the third Asclepiadean meter; therefore I have decided to translate the piece in free verse form. Unlike some other translations, I have decided to keep the basic structure of the piece the same. One of the translations I read changed the four stanzas into two, and I did not care for that alteration. Basically I am trying to create a piece that does not vary too drastically from the original, but will have the same effect on a modern, non-Latin reading audience.