Sappho (c.610 BC - c.580 BC) was one of the greatest poets of ancient Greece, and perhaps the most famous female poet in the history of European literature. All that is known about her life is that she was born on the Greek island of Lesbos (also known as Lesvos and Mytilene), that she was married, and that she had a daughter named Cleïs.
Short Profile of Sappho
Sappho's poetry was loved and admired by later Greek writers, especially Catullus, who translated her works with grandeur. Catallus would have been familiar with her work.
Many legends arose about her life. Some said that she was the lover of Alcaeus, another poet from the island of Lesbos. The ancient Roman poet Ovid tells a story about Sappho, saying she jumped to her death from a cliff because of her love for a boatman called Phaon. It is unlikely that either of these stories is true.
Sappho's Poetry
Sappho's poems were arranged into nine books. Of those she wrote in her lifetime, only fragments have survived. Experts are not sure when they were written. Most of her poems are about her friends and family. She was one of the first to write lyrical poems that expressed personal feelings. They are considered remarkable for their passionate descriptions of emotion and the simple beauty of the language.
The famous American writer Gertrude Stein speaks about the time when a poet "could say 'O moon,' 'O sea,' 'O love,' and the moon and the sea and love were really there." And where Homer's sunrise has rosy fingers, to Sappho, it is the moon. Such apparent feelings of "love is in the air" come from reading Sappho.
Poetry Written to Women
The majority of Sappho's love poems address or focused on relationships among women. It seems that she had a circle of close female friends who were the audience for her poetry and with whom she may have performed religious rituals, such as worshiping the goddess Aphrodite.
As a result of her relationship and special bonding to women, she has often been labeled as a homosexual. The word "lesbian," which originally meant "a person from the island of Lesbos," has in modern times, become the term used for a female homosexual.
Sappho, Poet of Love
The Greek poet Sappho died young — c. 30 years old — in Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Only fragments of her books of verses have been found. Some are also available through quotations from other writers. Her poetry focuses on love, and it is personal and emotional rather than religious or political.
Sources:
McGovern, Una, Ed. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers, 2002.
Payne, Tom. The A-Z of Great Writers. London: Carlton, 1997.
Uglow, Jennifer, Compiler & Editor, revised by Maggy Hendry. The Macmillan Dictionary of Women's Biography, 3rd Edition. London: Macmillan Publishers, 1999.
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