Heather Goodman
Eng 2030
Dr. Dugger
2 October 2017
Sappho’s “Poem 16”: A Close Reading
Some men say an army of horse and some men say an army on foot
And some men say an army of ships is the most beautiful thing
On the black earth. But I say it is
What you love.
Easy to make this understood by all by all.
For she who overcame everyone
In beauty (Helen)
Left her fine husband
Behind and went sailing to Troy.
Not for her children nor her dear parents has she a thought no –
] led her astray
]for
]lightly
] reminded me not of Anaktoria
Who is gone.
I would rather see her lovely step
And the motion of light on her face
Than chariots of Lydians or ranks
Of footsoilders in arms.
Little is known about the Greek Poet Sappho. Just like her poems, pieces of her life have been lost over time. What we do know is Sappho lived on the island of Lesbos around the turn on the seventh and six centuries BCE. She composed songs with a lyre accompaniment known as lyric poetry. These poems were collected into nine volumes and what has survived exist in fragments (Williamson).
Fragment 16 is known today as "The Ode to Anactoria.” It was only recently found in Egypt on an ancient paper called papyrus. The poem was found in a poor state
…show more content…
She would like to see this more than the chariots of Lydians or ranks of foot soldiers in arms, this draws one back to the beginning of the poem. For Sappho the most beautiful thing would be her beloved coming home like that of the soldiers coming home from war. Sappho chooses not to celebrate war but that of the beauty of a woman, her beloved. One concludes that Helen is a metaphor for Anaktoria. Like Helen, did Anaktoria leave Sappho for another? Did ero cloud Anaktoria’s mind and send her off to find her Paris, her personal definition of beauty? Is the earth black because the author is in mourning at the loss of her
Sappho’s poem, entitled Fragment 16, is of the lyrical style instead of the epic style we are used to in Homer’s Iliad. The lyrical style of poetry got its name because it was usually accompanied by a lyre while it was recited. It also was used to express more emotion rather than telling a story. This form of poetry seems to be more artistic rather than the story telling of epic poetry of the time. In this poem we are able to use the comparison of different imagery to understand a common theme within the poem itself. The reason for the interesting title of the poem is because most of Sappho’s poetry is now only found in fragmented forms. Most of Sappho’s writing is from 600 B.C.E.
In fragments 16, Sappho claims that mortals cannot compare to the beauty of Helen. Sappho remains simple and to the point with her description of Helen. Unlike Homer, Sappho claims that the cause of
This expresses A.lesky’s opinion on Tyrtaeus’ poetry. Writing and literature through both ancient sources and evidence proves to
The fact that Sappho choses these words rather than that of any other reveals that one of the conceptions of love is pain. In addition, the use of figurative language within the poem reveals another conception that Sappho has of love is
The first Homeric Hymn of Aphrodite tells the story of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, desire, and beauty. She is the daughter of Zeus and highly regarded among both immortals and mortal men. The story recounts the power that Aphrodite possesses as well as the limitations of her power. One limitation this hymn primarily focuses on is a situation in which Aphrodite is humiliated. This myth utilizes strategies such as story structure and word choice in order to describe how Aphrodite is humiliated.
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.
Sappho 96 is a poem that explores the beauty of love in the context of heartbreak and abandonment. The mood of the poem is almost wistful as Sappho seems to be clearly saddened by her lover, Anaktoria, leaving her; however, in true Sappho fashion, she can maintain the beauty she sees in her lover. The filled in lines serve to enhance the feelings of melancholy and passivity while giving the reader a deeper insight to the love Sappho has for Anaktoria.
Other authors after Homer also use reverence for a god’s domain as a tool to gain attention from the gods. In the Fragments, the author, Sappho, uses this tool to gain attention from the gods for herself. Sappho is a lover of love and her work shows her obsession with love as most of her partially retained and transcribed lyrics focus on love and its different forms. In supplication to the goddess Aphrodite, Sappho writes, “Deathless Aphrodite of the spangled mind… I beg you do not break with hard pains, O lady, my heart” (The Fragments, pg.3). Due to the fact that love is Aphrodite’s domain, Aphrodite pays attention to Sappho – someone who personifies and respects the power of love. Subsequently, after Sappho’s supplication, Aphrodite asks, “Whom should I persuade (now again) to lead you back into her love? Who, O Sappho, is wronging you?” (The fragments, pg.3). The use of the phrase ‘now again’ indicates that Aphrodite not only pays attention to Sappho, but that Aphrodite helps Sappho in issues of love repeatedly. Out of context, the phrase ‘now again’ also denotes and exasperated tone, however, the preceding context states that Aphrodite greeted Sappho smiling – a symbol of pleasure with another. Additionally, Sappho gains the attention of Hera because of her mention and praise of marriage in lyric 44, motherly love in lyric 132 and the praise of women throughout - all powers that lie under Hera’s domain. Recently in a newly discovered and transcribed lyric, Sappho says,
In the first stanza of this poem, similar to Sappho of Lesbos, the poem begins by admiring the woman and comparing her to something of high value. Sappho describes her feelings in awe of the woman, staring from a distance. “She looks like a star-goddess,” from the Ramesside poem compares the woman to something of higher nature. Both poems place women on level of upper hierarchy.
Sappho’s poems reveal the complicated nature of human sexuality in Greek society by saying that people need love. Sappho views love is about beauty, desire, and sacrifice. Love can be a battle and a pain, as it can be a terrain of erotic struggle one of victory, loss and ecstasy. People should be living their life through what their heart tells them. Love is blinding and superficial. It didn’t matter if you were a same race couple, as long as you had love, anyone could be with
Throughout the fragmented poem, Sappho expresses how someone else’s degrading words affect her and how she handles that pain. She is quick to judge and takes action after being put down. With the descriptions of her pain in movements, she tells a story of what caused her pain.
However, many considered Sappho to be a heroine for creating poetry that was against the societal standard yet was surely relevant in ancient Greece. For example, Sappho’s most well-known verse of poetry, Fragment 32, expressed the female narrator’s envy of men who are able to talk to the speaker’s woman crush. Sappho
In the same way, Sappho finishes by indicating love is forever. Through this poem, she wins over how deep her love is by turning this scary crazy love, into something that is going to last for a very long time. Additionally, the Sapphic poetry displayed in this poem creates a powerful emotion which simply intensifies as you read the poem. The poem starts out beautifully slowly, and then erupts to deep love affection.
Based off the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, Eurydice by Ocean Vuong, incorporates the classical elements of the
A passage in unit 3, pages 121- 160,was about a man named, Orpheus, who was the son of the Muses and a Thracian prince. His sad story begins happily when he waits for his bride to be, to marry him. But tragically his bride dies after being stung by a viper and he quickly gets on a boat, to go to the underground world to get his bride back. As it says," O Gods who rule the dark and silent world, To you all born of a woman needs must come. All lovely things at last go down to you. You are the debtor who is always paid. A little while we tarry up on earth. Then we are yours forever and forever. But I seek one who came to you too soon. The bud was plucked before the flower bloomed. I tried to bear my loss. I could not bear it. Love was too strong a god.