Making Love to the Mind: The Greatest Intimacy

Lyric poetry flourished during Greece’s Archaic Age. This was a time of rebirth for Greece. Literacy shifted from epics to lyric poetry as a result encouragement for a variety of voices to be heard. Lyric poetry is different from epic poetry because it is more personal to the author and is mostly their personal thoughts. In Greece, Sappho was unquestionably the finest composer of lyric poetry. Sappho’s poems were intimate. Love was always the evident theme.

This implies that love and desire are essentially interchangeable, however, Sappho does not treat them as such. This distinction becomes solidified by analyzing Sappho’s use of the gods in her poetry in which she correlates love with the goodness Aphrodite and lust with the god Eros. By observing Sappho’s stylistic formations within fragments 1, 16 and 31, the

In this paper, four important features of qualia will be made explicit. From these, we will examine two specific features of qualia (privacy and immediate apprehensibility) which Dennett attempts to debunk in his article, Quining Qualia. His reasoning – in the form of intuition pumps – will be critiqued, and a rejection formulated.

The Greeks produced some of the greatest literature in the Archaic Age; stories were dauntless, delightful, and passionate whilst sustaining a worldly and rich composition. Poetry became one of the arts that grew favorable to the citizens of Greece due to the mellow melody of the art while preserving the significant principles and values of their culture. The poem “Fragment 16,” written by the illustrious poet of the Archaic Age ca. 600 BCE, Sappho, expresses the admiration of “Anactoria” and her commendable beauty. This poem, translated by Jim Powell, is an example of one of Sappho’s renowned lyric poetry, demonstrating the intricate practice of love and passion.

It is tempting to compare Sappho’s poetry to that of Greek epic writer Homer for many reasons, not the least of which is her apparent invocation to the muse at the beginning of the only complete poem existing from the scant remaining fragments of her work. In her “Ode to Aphrodite,” she appeals: “Immortal Aphrodite of the shimmering throne…come hither” (Sappho, Loc. 30), echoing Homer’s famous “Tell me, oh Muse” (Homer, The Odyssey 36), and “Sing, O goddess, the destructive wrath of Achilles” (Homer, The Iliad 3). And, from what scholars have been able to glean from ancient texts, a woman such as Sappho, wealthy and relatively well-educated (Prentice 348), would have heard recitations of those epic poems. Recitations, because poetry was

The poet Sappho from the town of Mytilene on the island of Lesbos, was from about 610 BCE to about 580 BCE, was the daughter of a woman named Cleis. In her poetry she often spoke of love that she felt for other

There are different forms of love, ranging from the lust of one another to a familial fondness. Two poets, Sappho and Catullus, each represent a different type of love in their respective poems. Sappho, a female poet born in the early sixth century B.C. on the Greek island of Lesbos, was said to be the tenth Muse and a supreme lyric poet of her time. Her life remains mostly a mystery, but through her poems it has been found out that she had a husband, and a daughter named Cleis. Catullus, a Roman poet that lived from roughly 84 to 54 B.C., found inspiration in and was influenced by Sappho, opting to write about love rather than politics like the rest of the poets of his time. He also popularized the style of “love elegy” in poems. Sappho and Catullus, as seen in “Sleep, Darling” and “If Ever Anyone Anywhere” respectively, use diction, the speaker, figurative language, and imagery in similar and different ways to express varying versions of love.

Robinson indicates the expression of genuine passion for the tragically unobtainable in poetic practice as a demonstration of the “genuine effusions of a supremely enlightened soul” (Robinson 152). Sappho, throughout the sonnets, is self-reflexive, and as such more Enlightened, than her silent love-object. Sappho, as a lover, can speak of philosophical and romantic discourse. Phaon, the supposedly-masculine, is silent, presenting a shallower, more volatile voice than Sappho’s own authoritative narration of their unrequited romance. Robinson grants Sappho the authority to describe, and further on inverts the convention of the male gaze in order to grant the philosophising female Muse authorial legitimacy.

It is important that during the entire poem Sappho does not care if the women she lust after feels that same away back. She is does not even consider the possibility of the women reciprocating those feels because is focused on her personal needs. Desire gives her the ability to be one completely one sided and selfish. This concept is also demonstrated in fragment 36 where Sappho says “ I long and seek after”. The word “I” is singular and egotistical it shows that Sappho’s desires is based purely on her individual needs.

While Sophocles maintained male dominance throughout both plays, his characterization of women in both plays is admirable at times, but for the most part, the women seem to take on a subordinate role as did most women in ancient Greek society. Antigone’s character certainly is the only standout female character in both plays. Antigone’s defiance of Creon’s edict, and he outspoken personality project an overview of Sophocles view of women. In a perfect contradicting clash of character, both Creon and Antigone’s character open a door into the thought process of Sophocles. On one hand, Sophocles introduces his readers to King Creon, a power drunken man who creates edicts against the laws of the gods to prove himself king, on the other you have a strong-willed woman, not easily swayed by the voice

Sappho’s fragments in, If Not, Winter, are composed of her reflections on the ardent emotions of love and desire. Sappho continues to ask and search for love, but she becomes consumed with desire. Her inability to control these emotions causes her to be caught in a battle between love and desire. Throughout the text, Sappho uses “eros” to express her desire towards an individual. This causes a conflict within the word eros because eros is defined as a fluid term in which, desire and love are synonymous with one another. This implies that love and desire are essentially interchangeable, however, Sappho does not treat them as such. This distinction becomes solidified by analyzing Sappho’s use of the gods in her poetry, where she correlates love with the goddess Aphrodite, and lust with the god Eros. By observing Sappho’s stylistic formation and diction within fragments 1, 16, and 31, the distinction between these two opposing forces becomes clear. In this paper I will argue that Sappho believes love involves an emotional connection that should be reciprocated and she also correlates love to beauty. In contrast, Sappho classifies desire as egotistical lust, which fulfills a physical need, where reciprocation is not required. Her distinctions between desire and love leads to a conflict in the term eros and her internal feelings add complexity and depth to her work.

While some, such as Gelmi (172) argue that Sappho’s lyre, at least historically, acts as a metaphor for broken body when the lyre breaks following Sappho’s suicidal plunge, Robinson’s writing suggests otherwise. The lyre is does not represent her body, but her voice, immortalised through poetry. In Sonnet XXV, it is the voice of Sappho that creates “melting ev’ery thought to fond desire” (XXV:3). The rhyme between “Lyre” and “desire” in the Italian sonnet form emphasises this connection between the voice of the lyre, and Phaon’s desire for Sappho. The rhyming scheme throughout the poem presents the theme of desire, with the following rhyming words being “fire” and “trembling wire”. While “fire” has the obvious connotation of passion, the “trembling” of the wire has an allusion to a physical relationship between Sappho and Phaon. Because the character of Sappho is written in third person at this point, this physical relationship may be imagined, but nevertheless, we once see Sappho having agency through her poetry. Through this third person perspective, the Sappho presented is a figure of female emancipation, to an extent, because she is desired for her “voice” and mind, not just

The syntax of these particular lines adds to the anticipation of the audience. The naval and military imagery creates an expectation of a subject that reflects these first lines, not beauty and love. In fact, the first few lines make the reader expect the opposite of what the poem is going to suggest. This surprise becomes important for a piece that is orally performed because it generates attention, which creates an appeal to the ear and perception of linear succession (Pfeiffjer 3). Sappho, cutting against the harsh beauty of the military, reveals that it is what one most loves that is the most beautiful. This exclamation of love makes the reader expect an immediate explanation of who or what Sappho places this love in, but it is not revealed until later in the poem. Surprise combines with suspense and from the moment Sappho begins, the audience expects her object of love to be revealed (Pfeiffjer 3). There is, however, a difference between the two translations. In Mary Barnard’s translation, the course of the priamel is broken into two different stanzas, putting more emphasis on the establishment of the militaristic expectation the reader suspects. Yet, in Anne Carson’s translation of the poem the lines about the military are in groups, followed by the line “what you love” set alone, drawing attention to the different tone being established (Carson 4). Where Carson succeeds in emphasizing Sappho’s point, Barnard fails. Yet, where

Courtier you are here, for a while you have lived without privileges and that has made you strong, you have been long veiled in subservience,this has been your jewel and instructor. belle you attended, mistress you lingered. Now times call for reliable clarity, long have you been veiled within the confines of your domains content with subservience. Observing the greats as they serve from the zeniths, walking among them as they rest and rule prodigiously. Run through the court yards of your mind, stir your feminine body and use the scepter of your spirituality. This is the age where you are to sit, and stand with the queens. Cease the light talks, the wardrobes of pastimes, recede your embroidery of idleness and erupt

The video starts off talking about the deepness of emotions we experience while listening to music. Our emotions range from happiness to sad to anger depending on the song’s lyrics, beat, tone and the purpose we are listening. Are we listening to this particular song because we are feeling sad or listening to a song because we are filled rage? Regardless our intention I learned that music interacts with our brain. Lovington mentions that there is an interaction between music and our brain which is he put decided to put music under the microscope to see exactly what happens to our brains/bodies will listening to music and making it. The video mentions we begin hearing sounds when we were fetuses at just 17-19 weeks. Fetuses hearing sounds for the first time in the womb can be seeing on ultrasounds smiling and moving along to the sounds which are extremely fascinating.