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Sappho

Sappho (SĂ-foe) of Lesbos (LEZ-bose) lived in the late 7th or 6th century BCE. She is the most ancient author studied in this course except for Homer.

Few facts of Sappho’s life are known for sure. In the ancient world there were many unconfirmed legends about her, and in modern literary studies there are many theories about her life. The following facts, however, are generally agreed:

Sappho lived on the island of Lesbos, off the coast of Asia Minor, near Troy and the reputed home of Homer. (In the ancient world, the coast of Asia Minor [modern Turkey] was inhabited by Greeks.) Find Lesbos on the map on page 86 in your textbook. All residents of Lesbos were (and are) Lesbians (with a capital “L”). Today, in honor of Sappho, homosexual women are called lesbians.

Sappho was an aristocrat and was once exiled from the island for belonging to the upper class. Aristocratic women apparently spent much of their time to themselves while the men were away from the island engaged in shipping and commerce.

Sappho’s poems mention that she was married to a wealthy merchant and had a daughter.

Sappho wrote many poems, the main subject of which is the speaker’s love for other women. One gets the impression that Sappho may have been surrounded by a circle of admiring young women. Two different theories to explain this phenomenon are that

she taught music and poetry at a finishing school for girls
she served as priestess of a women's cult of the goddess Aphrodite

Background about Sappho’s Poetry

Reputation: Sappho’s poetry had a very high reputation in the ancient world. She was the only woman in ancient Greece whose writing achieved this status. Plato, centuries after her death, called her “the tenth Muse” because she was such an inspiration to other poets.
Extent: A large body of Sappho’s poetry existed in the ancient world. Her poems filled nine books totaling thousands of lines.
Loss: Only one complete poem (the first one in your textbook) and parts of 700 lines are extant (still in existence) today. All the rest of her poetry has been lost. Reasons for the loss of her poetry include

the usual crumbling and lack of effective preservation of ancient manuscripts
periodic attempts by the Church to destroy her poetry because of its apparent lesbianism:

In 380 CE, books of her poetry were destroyed by a bishop’s order.
In 1073 CE, the last major book-burning of Sappho’s poetry was ordered in Rome and Constantinople.

Survival: What we still have of Sappho’s poetry survives only because

she was so frequently quoted by other poets.
her poetry was so ubiquitous that scraps of it have been found even in excavations of an ancient Egyptian garbage dump.

Issue of lesbianism: Scholars today disagree about whether Sappho was a lesbian and whether the poems indicate sexual relations between women. The following points should be considered:

The concept of sexual orientation has been understood only for the past one hundred years; it was unknown in the ancient world.
In the ancient world, only sexual practice was considered. Sexual activity with partners of both genders was not considered immoral or unusual in ancient Greece (or Rome).
In ancient literature, however, sexual relations between women are much less frequently mentioned than those between men.
Ordinarily it is important to distinguish between the speaker and the author of a poem. In Sappho’s poems, however, the two seem to be practically identical. Sappho even refers to herself by name in the first poem in your text.

Although the editor’s introduction to Sappho in our textbook does not directly address the issue of her lesbianism, what do you infer the editor’s position on this controversy to be?
After reading the poems, what do you think? Was Sappho a lesbian by our definition?

Traits of Sappho’s poetic style

Simple, direct language: Sappho’s poems use simple, everyday language. They express emotion in an immediate, natural, unadorned way, largely free of ornamentation and metaphor.
Passionate intensity: Sappho’s poems express longing that is passionate, intense, even erotic.

“[Throned in splendor, deathless, O Aphrodite],” 337

Sappho perfected various unusual poetic meters. She is known especially for the “Sapphic” stanza used in this poem. The English translation in your textbook retains the stanzaic form of the original Greek. There is no rhyme because ancient Greek poetry never rhymed. How many syllables are in each of the four lines of a Sapphic stanza?
This entire poem is a prayer addressed to what deity? What different names or descriptions of this deity are used throughout the poem?
Lines 5 (beginning with “if once before now”) through 24 are a flashback in which the speaker reminds the deity of a previous occasion on which the deity answered her prayer. Identify the sequence of events that occurred on that occasion. What did the deity say to Sappho? Who is called “Persuasion”? Why?
The last stanza returns to the present. What does the speaker ask for now?

“[Like the very gods in my sight is he],” 338

Sappho’s poems do not frequently refer to men. Who is the man referred to in line 1? Why does the speaker look at him as if he were a god?
Line 3 refers to “you.” To whom is this poem addressed? Why is it not likely that the person addressed can actually hear what the speaker is saying?
In line 5, what is the antecedent of the pronoun “it”? In other words, WHAT breaks the speaker’s spirit?
Identify all the physical symptoms that the speaker says she experiences (lines 6-16).
What practically universal experience is the speaker describing in this poem?

“[Some there are who say that the fairest thing seen],” 338

In lines 1-3, what are 3 things that some people consider to be the most beautiful sight in the world?
Beginning with “but I say” (lines 3-5), what does the speaker consider to be the most beautiful sight?
In lines 5-12, what story from Greek mythology does the speaker use to support the assertion she made in lines 3-5? How does this myth support her assertion?
In line 13, the speaker refers to “young brides.” What bride might she especially have in mind? Who is Anaktória?
How does the last stanza repeat the first stanza? This repetition is called a “frame.”

Catullus

Catullus (kuh-TULL-us) lived in the Roman civilization in the first century BCE.

What other Roman writers have we studied?
In what language did Catullus and all Romans write?

Catullus wrote many different types of poems. The best known, and all those in your textbook, are short lyric poems concerning the course of a love affair between the young, at first naive, Catullus (who died at age 30) and an older married woman. Both Catullus and his mistress, Clodia, were aristocrats. In these poems the speaker calls his mistress “Lesbia” in compliment to Sappho of Lesbos, the greatest Greek lyric poet, who lived 500 years before Catullus. Lyric poetry in general, and lyric love poetry in particular, is unusual in the ancient world, and especially in Rome. Virgil expresses traditional Roman values; Catullus does not.

What very different feelings (emotions) does the speaker express toward Lesbia in different poems? How do his feelings change over the course of the sequence of poems in your textbook?
What do Catullus’s poems have in common with Sappho’s?
How are Catullus’s poems different from Sappho’s? Which poet expresses a greater range of different emotions? Which poet expresses greater depth of emotion? Which poet is more realistic in accepting the behavior of others? In what ways are the emotions in Sappho’s poems stereotypically feminine and those in Catullus’s poems stereotypically masculine?

Poem 5, 632

What is the meaning of the Latin phrase carpe diem? (If you don’t know the answer, look it up in a college dictionary.) What lines especially reflect the philosophy of carpe diem?
Whom does the speaker have in mind when he refers to “sour old men” (line 2) and “fools and cuckolds” (line 16)? What is the definition of “cuckold”?
What “number” (line 15) does the speaker want to “confuse” (or “lose track of”)? Why (lines 16-20)?

Poem 83, 633

Why does the speaker like the fact that Lesbia says bad things about him to her husband?

Poem 72, 634

According to the first stanza, how did the speaker previously view Lesbia?
According to the second stanza, how does he view her now? Why does he not break up with her?
What do you suppose has happened to make the speaker change his mind about Lesbia?

Poem 11, 635

While Catullus is serving in the Roman army far from Rome, his friends Furius and Aurelius (line 1) have brought him a letter from Lesbia. Apparently WHAT is the content of Lesbia’s letter?
According to lines 14-16, with what tone does Catullus want his friends to deliver his oral response to Lesbia?
According to the next-to-last stanza, what is Catullus’s message to Lesbia?
In the extended metaphor in the last stanza, what are the literal terms of “this lonely flower” and of “the plough”?
Why is Catullus so bitter toward Lesbia?

Poem 76, 635

In the last 10 or so lines of this poem, what prayer does the speaker make to the gods?