Sappho

Sappho (săf`ō), fl. early 6th cent. B.C., greatest of the early Greek lyric poets (Plato calls her "the tenth Muse"), b. Mytilene on Lesbos. Facts about her life are scant. She was an aristocrat, who wrote poetry for her circle of friends, mostly but not exclusively women. She may have had a daughter. The term lesbian (see homosexuality), her presumed sexual orientation, is derived from the name of her island home, Lesbos. The ancients had seven or nine books of her poetry (the first book originally consisted of 330 Sapphic stanzas). Only fragments survive; the longest (seven stanzas) is an invocation to Aphrodite asking her to help the poet in her relation with a beloved woman. She wrote in Aeolic dialect in a great many meters, one of which has been called, after her, the Sapphic. Her verse is a classic example of the love lyric, and is characterized by her passionate love of women, a love of nature, a direct simplicity, and perfect control of meter. She influenced many later poets, e.g., Catullus, Ovid, and Swinburne.

Bibliography

See translations by M. Barnard (1962), W. Barnstone (1965), G. Davenport (1965, 1980, 1995), S. Q. Groden (1967), P. Roche (1999), A. Carson (2002), and S. Lombardo (2002); studies by D. L. Page (1965, repr. 1979) and A. P. Burnett (1955, repr. 1983).

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Sappho

(flourished 610–c. 570 BC, Lesbos, Asia Minor) Greek lyric poet. Although legends about her abound, little is known of her life. She was born on the island of Lesbos and became the leader of a thiasos, an informal female community, whose purpose was the education of young women, especially for marriage. The principal themes of her poetry are personal and reflect the activities and atmosphere of the thiasos. Her writing, mostly vernacular and not formally literary, is concise, direct, picturesque, and various. It includes nuptial songs and an expression of her love for other women, which produced the word lesbian (from the island's name). Though she was much admired in antiquity, most of her work was lost by the early Middle Ages; only an ode to Aphrodite—28 lines long—is complete.

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Sappho

6th century bc, Greek lyric poetess of Lesbos

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Sappho (c. 620–c. 565 B. C.)

lyric poet sometimes called the “tenth muse.” [Gk. Lit.: Benét, 896–897]

See : Poetry