Two Poems by Sappho
Sappho was born somewhere around 630 bc on the Greek island Lesbos. She wrote many volumes of poetry that were admired throughout the ancient Greek world. Plato once suggested that she should be added to the list of muses said to inspire artists. Her home island even minted a coin with her likeness in her lifetime. Sappho had both male and female lovers, and it is her island which gave its name to the love between women. She is said to have committed suicide by leaping off of a high cliff, because of a broken heart.
Her poetry usually concerned love, and often refers to the goddess of love, Aphrodite. It was accompanied by simple music, played on the lyre, the small harp you see her holding in the painting below. Because her poetry only survives in fragments, modern translators have the difficult task of reconstructing her poetry on the basis of the bits and pieces.
Below are two such poems. The first is Sappho remembering a lost love; the second is an ode to her daughter, Cleis.
|
Sappho an 1877 painting by Charles-August Mengin (1853-1933) |
I have not had one word from her Frankly I wish I were dead When she left, she wept a great deal; she said to me, "This parting must be endured, Sappho. I go unwillingly." I said, "Go, and be happy but remember (you know well) whom you leave shackled by love "If you forget me, think of our gifts to Aphrodite and all the loveliness that we shared "all the violet tiaras, braided rosebuds, dill and crocus twined around your young neck "myrrh poured on your head and on soft mats girls with all that they most wished for beside them "while no voices chanted choruses without ours, no woodlot bloomed in spring without song..." --Translated by Mary Barnard Source: http://www.sappho.com/poetry/historical/sappho.html |
|
Sleep, darling I have a small daughter called Cleis, who is like a golden flower I wouldn't take all Croesus' kingdom with love thrown in, for her Don't ask me what to wear I have no embroidered headband from Sardis to give you, Cleis, such as I wore and my mother always said that in her day a purple ribbon looped in the hair was thought to be high style indeed but we were dark: a girl whose hair is yellower than torchlight should wear no headdress but fresh flowers --Translated by Mary Barnard Source: gopher://gopher.OCF.Berkeley.EDU:70/ 00/Library/Poetry/Sappho/sappho.Cleis |
Sappho Papyrus Fragment (from http://www.grundel.nl/) |
This content is provided to you freely by BYU-I Books.
Access it online or download it at https://books.byui.edu/history_of_psycholog/two_poems_by_sappho.