1
Swift, beautiful sparrows,
Their close packed wings
Sappho often employs…
Sappho often employs surprising turns of phrase to bring about an effect, sometimes humorous
- H. Zellner
1 scholarship:
Sappho often employs surprising turns of phrase to bring about an effect, sometimes humorous
- H. Zellner
2- Come to me, leave Crete behind!
- Where you have a charming grove of apple trees
- The horserearing valley flourishes with the flowers of Spring
2 analysis:
Come to me, leave Crete behind!
Apples are symbolic of power, beauty and strength, but also of love (myth of the judgement of Paris)
Horses can symbolise virility or passion. Suggests at a private religious space where the cult of Aphrodite may have worshipped and practiced in. Place of shared female community
30- May the maidens sing
We can stay awake
With the clear-voiced nightingale
30 analysis:
May the maidens sing
Nightingale can be associated with the myth of Philomela- marriage consummation associated with violence.
34- Around the beautiful moon
Around the beautiful moon,
the stars hide away their
gleaming brilliance,
whenever the moonlight
shines over the land
34 analysis
Around the beautiful moon
Natural imagery as a metaphor for one girl more beautiful than any other?
Others seem less beautiful by comparison, they hide around her despite being beautiful themselves.
Well known for beauty- ‘shines over the land’
Sappho consciously wished…
Sappho consciously wished to connect women with the mysterious rhythms of the moon as separate from the sharp, bright male world of sun and stars
- E Stehle
47- Love shook my soul
Love shook my soul
Like a wind buffeting oak trees
On a mountain
47 analysis:
Love shook my soul
Nature as a metaphor for love and romance. Used to convey whirlwind of strong emotions and potential dangers
95- Gongyla
I long to see the banks of the Acheron
Dewy and covered with lotus
95 analysis:
Gongyla
Lotus symbolic of forgetfulness- suggests she might be wanting to forget a past love
96- Often she turned her thoughts here
The roses and
The tender chervil
And the flowering melilot
Bloom.
96 analysis:
Often she turned her thoughts here
As flowers bloom they’ll also die- introduces sense of sadness and finality
Roses recurring symbol of love and Aphrodite
104a- Hesperus
Hesperus!
Bringing back everything which
The shining Dawn scattered!
104a analysis:
Hesperus
Evening star- could be linked with sexual activity
Symposiums also happened in the evening
105a- Just like the sweet apple
Just like the sweet apple reddening at the highest height
105a analysis:
Just like the sweet apple
Specific comparison to nature-
Desirable, ripe (ready to marry?), difficult to reach.
105c- Just like the hyacinth
Just like the hyacinth on a mountain
Trodden by the feet of the shepherds
105c analysis:
Just like the hyacinth
Comparison to hyacinth emphasises beauty and isolation, as well as vulnerability
146- Neither the honey
Neither the honey
Nor the bee
Is for me.
146 analysis:
Neither the honey
Bee could be used as a metaphor for the pain found in love, and used to highlight its dual nature. Honey is sweet, the bee stings.
