Dr. Johnson asked which translation of Catullus I'd recommend. I've only read the Zukofskys' version. I also liked Louis Zukofsky's earlier translations of a few of the poems and Pound's few translations. I've glanced at the Loeb bilingual edition. (I don't have the bilingual Zukofsky edition. Zukofsky's Complete Short Poetry [great book] includes just the English version.) I think Sir Richard Burton did a complete translation of Catullus, but I only glanced at it once.
I loved these lines about Zukofsky by Guy Davenport: "Zukofsky must seem to be not so much a poet's poet but a poet's poet's poet," and "When enough people become familiar with "A" so that it can be discussed, the first wonder will be how so many subjects got built into such unlikely patterns, and what a harmony they all make."
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