The poetry of Sappho is timeless. I remember reading her poetry in college. There is so much to study and learn about her, many poems to read and contemplate. I leave one here for you. It is not necessarily a favorite, just a poem I found to use in this space at this time. Sappho's poetry centers on passion and love for various personages of both genders. The word lesbian derives from the name of the island of her birth, Lesbos, while her name is also the origin of the word sapphic; neither word was applied to female homosexuality until the nineteenth century. The narrators of many of her poems speak of infatuations and love (sometimes requited, sometimes not) for various females, but descriptions of physical acts between women are few and subject to debate. Whether these poems are meant to be autobiographical is not known, although elements of other parts of Sappho's life do make appearances in her work, and it would be compatible with her style to have these intimate encounters expressed poetically, as well. Her homoerotica should be placed in the context of the seventh century (BC). The poems of Alcaeus and later Pindar record similar romantic bonds between the members of a given circle. The third-century philosopher Maximus of Tyre wrote that Sappho was "small and dark" and that her relationships to her female friends were similar to those of Socrates. What else could one call the love of the Lesbian woman than the Socratic art of love? For they seem to me to have practised love after their own fashion, she the love of women, he of men. For they said they loved many, and were captivated by all things beautiful. WhatAlcibiades and Charmides and Phaedrus were to him, Gyrinna and Atthis and Anactoria were to her ... During the Victorian era, it became fashionable to describe Sappho as the headmistress of a girls' finishing school. As Page DuBois (among many other experts) points out, this attempt at making Sappho understandable and palatable to the genteel classes of Great Britain was based more on conservative sensibilities than evidence. There are no references to teaching, students, academies, or tutors in any of Sappho's scant collection of surviving works. Burnett follows others, like C. M. Bowra, in suggesting that Sappho's circle was somewhat akin to the Spartanagelai or the religious sacred band, the thiasos, but Burnett nuances her argument by noting that Sappho's circle was distinct from these contemporary examples because "membership in the circle seems to have been voluntary, irregular and to some degree international."The notion that Sappho was in charge of some sort of academy persists nonetheless. Sappho's Hymn to Aphrodite Translation, copyright 1997 Elizabeth Vandiver; all rights reserved Iridescent-Throned Aphrodite, deathless Child of Zeus, wile-weaver, I now implore you ,Don't--I beg you, Lady--with pains and torments Crush down my spirit, But before if ever you've heard my pleadings Then return, as once when you left your father's Golden house; you yoked to your shining car your Wing-whirring sparrows; Skimming down the paths of the sky's bright ether On they brought you over the earth's black bosom, Swiftly--then you stood with a sudden brilliance, Goddess, before me; Deathless face alight with your smile, you asked me What I suffered, who was my cause of anguish, What would ease the pain of my frantic mind, and Why had I called you To my side: "And whom should Persuasion summon Here, to soothe the sting of your passion this time? Who is now abusing you, Sappho? Who isTreating you cruelly? Now she runs away, but she'll soon pursue you; Gifts she now rejects--soon enough she'll give them; Now she doesn't love you, but soon her heart will Burn, though unwilling." Come to me once more, and abate my torment; Take the bitter care from my mind, and give me All I long for; Lady, in all my battles Fight as my comrade. This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.
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