ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the emergence of a new form by a process of adaptation of earlier, less ambitious forms. Occasionally a poem succeeds in exploiting the formal pattern, turning it to a new purpose instead of leaning upon it. This is especially true of a transitional poet like Catullus. In his work there are both poems which merely lean on traditional forms and poems which seek to exploit form. There are two prevailing attitudes to the problem of the short Latin poem. A common attitude among professional scholars is to dismiss the problem from consideration. For professional scholars the difficulties a Latin poem presents lie in fixing the text and settling the sense of the words. The sort of poem described by Benn was not always the usual manifestation of poetry. Poem depends too much on the present habits of poets, publishers and readers to possess permanent validity.
