Sappho

It is also probable that Sappho could have used, or could have been influenced, by the discourse of incantations in many of her compositions. Nevertheless, it is not certain whether or not there was an occasion, even a completely constructed literary occasion, for the performance…

Love can be written about and described in many different ways. The ancient Greek poet Sappho wrote multiple pieces of work which each tell a different story about love and adoration. A lot of the poems written by Sappho remain incomplete and although this may be a barrier for some, it acted as a motivation for me to infer what words could be missing. There were some beautiful passages written by Sappho but some were difficult to interpret. For example, poem 104a was the most difficult poem I…

to the strikingly misogynistic takes on gender, hierarchy, and marriage that were prevalent in this era. In fact, women were seen as a threat to the male order, frequently being compared to vixens, mares, and pigs. So why then, is the well-versed Sappho held in such high approbation? Though she was a woman in this prejudice era, she was very much admired in antiquity, complimenting the extraordinary reputation that still permeates today’s modern times. The answer to this paradoxical question…

the rules of the patriarchy. However, many of these women disguised themselves as men in order to accomplish what they wanted. One example of this is the Greek poet, Sappho. Sappho lived during the Archaic period on the island of Lesbos. During these times women possessed small amounts of freedom. Women were not educated, so for Sappho to possess the ability to not only read, but write, her own poems, is rare. In ancient Greece, homosexual relationships between men were fairly common, especially…

Little is known about the life of Sappho, or Psappa in her native dialect. Her birthplace was either Eressos or Mytilene to an aristocratic family on the island of Lesbos. Many scholars always say that Sappho came from a wealthy family and the wealth allowed for her to live a comfortable lifestyle, this cannot be supported. Most wealthy women in Lesbos married according to their customs and traditions of their city-states and even though Sappho was possibility wealth, this would have not made…

Homer and Sappho contend that the best way to cope with grief is to transform that emotion into rage towards the entity that has wronged them because the actions spurred by anger helps an individual gain what they want most. Both authors agree that regardless of the form of love an individual feels, the stages of grief that they cycle through are clear: initially, individuals experience the sting of grief and attempt to protect themselves against its harsh effects by shunning reality, once their…

Love is composed of many powerful forces that are all consuming. Sappho, the poet in, If Not winter, writes about experiences in which, eros produces a gap between the subject and the desired object. With the use of vivid imagery and overt symbolism within fragment 105A, Sappho allows her readers to experience the uncontrollable emotions of desire and attraction that controls a person who is in love, even if it is impractical for her to have such feelings. This ultimately creates a tangible…

Hymn to Aphrodite by Sappho stuck out to me above all other artworks we discussed. I really enjoyed the raw emotion and the humility of Sappho begging for emotional support. This is a prayer to the goddess Aphrodite, and speaks of times of trouble in Sappho’s life. Sappho is depressed because a woman that she loved has left in order to be married and, in turn, she is heartbroken. Sappho is asking Aphrodite for help in a lyrical poem that has three separate parts, each different in length and…

Sappho fr. 1 is a poem written by the greek poet Sappho. In 1-2 lines, Sappho addresses Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and praises her as the “daughter of Zeus” and the “weaver of snares”, the snares being love. In lines 2-4, she begs Aphrodite to stop her heart from feeling pain and sorrow, so it appears that Sappho is falling in love and needs Aphrodite to prevent her from heartbreak. Then in lines 5-9, Sappho calls upon Aphrodite, saying that if Aphrodite has ever helped her before then she…

literary curses) along with the Stasburg epode and other fragments of archaic lyric poets. This can be argued by a careful examination of these fragments along with other literary curses and some of the curse-tablets. More specifically, I suggest that Sappho inscribed her poetry in the context of the tradition of curses and that she blended this tradition with other elements coming from epic poetry, iambos, and the funerary epigram, thus that she composed literary curses. I propose that the…