Sappho on love and desire Flashcards
(19 cards)
“he seems to me…
equal to a god.” one of the few mentions of men in Sappho’s poetry, used in a hyperbole to aid her description of jealousy in love.
“A handsome man…
is only good to look at.” proverb style fragmented shows wisdom, as well as connection to Plato + Seneca who saw beauty and goodness as spiritual rather than physical.
“Like the rosy…
-fingered moon” (Loeb 96, Often she turned her thoughts her) the Homeric epithet used here is evocative of female power, Sappho puts her lovers on a pedestal - unlike Ovid.
“I thought you were like…
a clumsy little girl.” the scathing tone of this fragment expresses the changeable nature of love, similarities to Ovid’s expression of disposable relationships.
“May they sing of your…
delights, and of your bride.” wedding song fragment, good outlook on marriage.
“Oh, Sappho…
I do not want to leave you”, direct speech evokes a personal heartbreak, Sappho responds in a mature manner, “we had good times.”
“a delicate fire…
runs beneath my skin,” orgasmic metaphor describes attraction is debilitating, yet not negative through natural metaphor, “I am greener Than grass” desire as incredibly powerful, has physical effects on the body.
“You soothed my…
soul which was / Burning with desire.” sibilance, evocative of Sappho’s fire motif to describe desire naturally, expresses how sex is a relief from desire.
sorrow or… “bb”
“I cannot weave…
I am smitten by a boy because of slender Aphrodite.” men are presented as a figure of sorrow or intimidation, “bigger by far than the biggest man.”
“I have a beautiful daughter…
who resembles the sight of golden flowers”, women are worthy based on their beauty.
“The bridegroom is…
coming/ Like Ares”, implies violence in the sex of marital consummation.
Freeman on grass imagery
“Grass is associated with eroticism.”
“A tremor seizes me all over…
And I think that I am on the point of death.”
“You will remember…
what we did when we were young, Many beautiful things.” Sappho nostalgically talks about her past sexual experiences, beautiful yet experimental.
“If you had a desire to say something noble…
not about to spit out some hurtful remark,” Sappho explains that sexual desire should not be withheld, the only shame comes from speaking cruelly.
How is love presented as divine and naturalistic?
- “What had made me call you this time?” “she will love you soon even if she does not want to.” “Be my ally.”
- “Love shook my soul/ Like a wind buffeting oak trees/ On a mountain.”
Haynes of Sappho with love
“Sappho pathologizes love, it is a medical condition.”
“missed by the apple pickers…
They just couldn’t reach.” metaphor exaggerates her desire as something out of reach to the allusion to the “reddening” “apple”.
“Weeping, she…
was leaving me.” shows how homoerotic relationships for Sappho are more than just sexual encounters, “You satisfied your desire”.
