Research Paper On Sappho
Sappho was born on the island of Lesbos sometime between 630 - 600 BCE. Not much is known about her life, but some of her poetry and great notoriety has survived. Sappho was a lyric poet, which means her poems were sung, usually accompanied by a lyre, which was a type of musical instrument. She was included in the list of the Nine Lyric poets, which were seen as highly esteemed poets to the scholars Hellenistic Alexandria. It is widely thought that Sappho was born to an Aristocratic family, her father is said to have been Scamandronymus, and her mother Cleis, which Sappho is said to have named her daughter after. Her poetry was mostly about the love and passion of women, and men as well, though known of her poems contained explicit "lesbian"
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The word Lesbian, as it is used today in its sexual connotation, did not appear until the nineteenth century. It is said that Alcaeus was Sappho's lover at one point as well as Anaktoria, a woman, who was mentioned in one of her poems as being her lover. Sappho's poems were said to be collected three hundred years after her death, and complied in Alexandria into nine books. When the library of Alexandria was burned down by the Christians, so were Sappho's books. Only few scraps and fragments …show more content…
But come hither if ever before thou didst hear my voice afar, and hearken, and leaving the golden house of thy father, camest with chariot yoked, and swift birds drew thee, their swift pinions fluttering over the dark earth, from heaven through mid-space. Quickly they arrived; and thou blessed one with immortal countenance smiling didst ask: What now is befallen me and why now I call and what I in my heart's madness, most desire. What fair one now wouldst thou draw to love thee? Who wrongs thee Sappho? For even if she flies she shall soon follow and if she rejects gifts, shall soon offer them and if she loves not shall soon love, however reluctant. Come I pray thee now and release me from cruel cares, and let my heart accomplish all that it desires, and be thou my ally." -
The word Lesbian, as it is used today in its sexual connotation, did not appear until the nineteenth century. It is said that Alcaeus was Sappho's lover at one point as well as Anaktoria, a woman, who was mentioned in one of her poems as being her lover. Sappho's poems were said to be collected three hundred years after her death, and complied in Alexandria into nine books. When the library of Alexandria was burned down by the Christians, so were Sappho's books. Only few scraps and fragments …show more content…
But come hither if ever before thou didst hear my voice afar, and hearken, and leaving the golden house of thy father, camest with chariot yoked, and swift birds drew thee, their swift pinions fluttering over the dark earth, from heaven through mid-space. Quickly they arrived; and thou blessed one with immortal countenance smiling didst ask: What now is befallen me and why now I call and what I in my heart's madness, most desire. What fair one now wouldst thou draw to love thee? Who wrongs thee Sappho? For even if she flies she shall soon follow and if she rejects gifts, shall soon offer them and if she loves not shall soon love, however reluctant. Come I pray thee now and release me from cruel cares, and let my heart accomplish all that it desires, and be thou my ally." -