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The New Sappho Poem

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Sappho is an ancient Greek poet who is known for her capability in the theorization and processing of love, though in The New Sappho her curiosity and amusement tends to turn its perspective to the idea of age. While we are used to the common concept of love and appearance of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, in Sappho’s poems, it seems that The New Sappho is both a play on her age, as well as a metaphor for her new subject. The poem’s title seems to suggest a rebirth or a renewal of being, yet in contradiction her physical form is aging.
In The New Sappho, she opens by stating “(You for) the fragrant-bosomed (Muses’) lovely gifts / (be zealous,) girls, (and the) clear melodious lyre,” which can be translated to Sappho telling the reader, who is presumably younger, be devoted to the gifts the muses have granted, for the melodious musical instrument is either comparable to your voice or opening the poetry (Sappho 1-2). The reason it can be suggested that the reader is potentially younger, is due to the method Sappho uses to approach or introduce them. I believe she intended for the reader to be a young woman, or considering her poems were usually presented in song, perhaps she was addressing the younger females within the audience. The reference of the instrument, however, can be interpreted two different ways. Either Sappho is continuing to bless and compliment the women by comparing their voice to the beautiful music of a Greek instrument, or she was making a statement and

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