Sappho

The texts Plato Symposium and Sappho, Selected Poems discuss the topic of love as experienced by a select few of society- and thus reject the notion that love is a universal human experience. Through this essay, love will be examined as it pertains to each text and then these ideas will be observed to understand how they reject the notion that love is a universal human experience. Set in ancient Greece, Plato’s work titled Symposium presents his view that love can only be experienced by men and…

was a creative response to Sappho, the response was a poem “translation” of themes within Sappho, constructed from the lyrics to a pop song which shared the same themes with the Sappho. The pop song chosen was Madonna’s Like A Virgin, the poem was made from the deconstructed lyrics. The poem is entitled Maidenhood.…

Sappho, one of the first documented female poets, was born near the time of 615 B.C. on a Greek island called, Lesbos. Today, the word “lesbian” is commonly used to describe women who are sexually, emotionally, and/or romantically involved with other women. This use of the word comes from the name of the island that Sappho resided on and the nature of some of her poetry, which is commonly referred to as of “Sapphic nature”, meaning a homosexual nature involving women. She was well known for her…

If Sappho had employed some of the literary devises encountered in curses, then her compositions would be also affiliated with other literary curses. Besides Homer, many other archaic poets seem to have used traditional formulae of cursing, thus to have composed poetic curses. The catalogue of poets of archaic literary curses includes the composer of the Strasburg epode (115 W), Archilochus (see for example 26, 107, 108, 177, 200 W), Alcaeus (129 V), Theognis (see for example 341-350, 600-602…

The works of Sappho challenges biblical imagery considering her work was done way before Jesus was born. She paints imagery that makes readers connect her words to religion. The questions on scholars’ minds are, did this imagery predict Christ or was it a coincidence. In the biblical world, there is no proof of God being a male, there have been theories expressing beliefs that God had famine characteristics. Sappho captures human imagery that to connect with biblical imagery. Sappho wrote, “But…

Introduction Sappho as an ancient Greek thinker and a great poet is credited with a number of her philosophical and educational works. She is one of the prominent educational revolutionaries. Sappho’s educational ideologies revolved around cultivating the student while at the same time serving as a mentor for young women so as to improve their capabilities as wives and Greeks (EM, 2011). Mary Wollstonecraft, although she is famously known as a political thinker, she has also greatly contributed…

The Uncontrollable Forces of Desire Desire is a consuming force that causes the body to act without consulting the mind. Sappho’s fragments in, If Not, Winter, creates experiences in which; eros produces a gap between the subject and the desired object. Eros is composed of the powerful, unconstrained forces of desire, attraction, and love. It has complete dominance over a person who is longing after another. The use of syntax, simile, and overt symbolism within fragment 105A; allows Sappho’s…

Sappho and Katherine Philips are two of the most influential writers and poets in literature. While both existed in two very different time periods, there are many parallels between the two poets and their writing style and lifestyle. Their poetry was about affectionate and emotional connections with women they cared for, which eventually led them to becoming a symbol for female homosexuality. Many scholars and historians would agree that both Sappho and Katherine Philips’ history are ambiguous…

sensuality are among the richest of human emotions, having the ability to evoke a wide range sensations and emotional responses. Sappho of Lesbos captures well the intensity and variety of sexual desire in her lyric poems, demonstrating the many ways in which it can alter the human psyche. In two specific lyrics, “He seems to me equal to gods” and “I simply want to be dead,” Sappho describes the emotions evoked by desire with appealing imagery and impassioned locution, which may, upon first…

Dark periods in our lives leads us to live in regret and desperation as sorrow seizes its control inside our hearts and minds. In “Letter to You,” by Sappho Scott, a woman, frightened and engulfed in her own desires, writes a mental imagery of words she struggles to find. This letter is not to her husband, to a family member, or a friend, but to a child she lost due to her own life choices. A decision she believes is only made between her and her child that she created and that she chose to…