Sappho, a pioneer in Greek literature, has captivated the minds of both ancient and modern audiences with her profound lyrical poetry. Her legacy, however, is a tapestry woven from admiration and distortion, shaped by evolving cultural and societal values. From early recognition as an esteemed poetess to the various misinterpretations of her life and work, Sappho’s true image has both been celebrated and contorted. This complex legacy is exemplified in historical records, artistic depictions, and literary critiques that illustrate her enduring influence on culture during her own time and years beyond. Sappho’s ingenuity and distinctiveness within Greek culture and literature sparked substantial recognition from her contemporaries and from …show more content…
Her lyrics have been highly regarded by both the modern world and notable ancient Greek writers, philosophers, & noblemen years after her death. Maximus of Tyre, a 2nd century CE philosopher, compares Sappho’s wisdom to well-regarded philosophers in his Dissertations; "In Plato, there is a discourse on Love, one by the wise Diotima, and one by the wise Sappho. The one is Socratic, the other Lesbian. the one from a woman to men, the other from a woman to women. But the wisdom in both is the same.” Maximus's comparison highlights Sappho as a wise thinker whose words rival esteemed philosophical figures. Beyond philosophers, Sappho’s poetry also impressed politicians. In a 2nd century CE fragment by Roman author Claudius Aelian, Sappho’s poetry is portrayed as memorable & revered by the community: “Solon the Athenian.when his nephew sang some song of Sappho at a drinking party, took pleasure in it and asked the young man to teach it to him. When someone asked why he was eager to learn it, he responded: “So, once I learn it, I may die.” This showcases how her lyrics were held in high regard by later influential individuals. However, certain ancient texts have catalysed fallacious myths regarding Sappho’s life and death.The 2nd to 4th-century CE dialogue The Erotes introduces the myth of Sappho’s alleged death: "While Phaon, the most beautiful man in existence, came to Lesbos and all the women fell in love with him, Sappho alone won his love, but when he deserted her, she threw herself from the Leucadian cliff." This quote paints Sappho as a tragic romantic figure, influencing the cultural narrative surrounding her and affecting how she was perceived and depicted in subsequent literature and art. These various sources demonstrate how Sappho’s legacy has been shaped
In Catullus’ poems 2, 3, 5, 7, and 8, Catullus describes his torrid affair with Lesbia. Lesbia is typically identified as Clodia, a married woman with a documented history of scandals and affairs. Catullus is deeply infatuated with Lesbia in his early poems, expressing jealousy of her pet bird and attempting to hold Lesbia’s attention. In Catullus 8, Catullus has a dramatic change of heart. He begins speaking in third person, giving himself advice just as much as he critiques Lesbia. Though his tone
Print. "lesbianism." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 25 Apr. 2014. . Mitchell, Alexandre G.. Greek vase-painting and the origins of visual humour. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Print. Powell, Jim. The poetry of Sappho. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print. Rabinowitz, Nancy Sorkin, and Lisa Auanger. Among women: from the homosocial to the homoerotic in the ancient world. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002. Print. van Dolen, Hein. "Greek Homosexuality
Test 1: Sappho and Catullus 1. From the beginning time love has always been a complicated subject matter full of competition. Usually, when the words “love” and “competition” are used together, they are automatically associated with love triangles. While this is true, there is more to love than person vs person conflict. There is also: person vs self (ex. emotions), person vs external factors (ex. social stigma), person vs lover, etc. All of these conflicts are highlighted in the writings of Greek
Poetry in Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own According to Laurence Perrine, author of Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, "poetry is as universal as language and almost as ancient"; however, "people have always been more successful at appreciating poetry than at defining it" (517). Perrine initially defines poetry as "a kind of language that says more and says it more intensely than does ordinary language" (517). After defining literature as writing concerned with experience which allows
“Ventriloquizing Sappho, or the Lesbian Muse”, Elizabeth Harvey defines “transvestite ventriloquism” as “the male author’s appropriation of the feminine voice,” and “its implications for silencing of women’s speech and writing” were vast and lasting (82). In Sappho’s case, this began with the Ovidian epistle where Sappho leaps to her death for Phaon’s love. Ovid’s appropriation, or rather, misappropriation silences Sappho’s original voice in her work because he writes in the voice of Sappho, with no inclination
women quiet. Sappho and her work is a good example in our readings to represent today’s day and time. Her poems seem contemporary, very modern. The Descent of Inanna ,on the other hand, is a prime example of works we’ve read that represent the past much more. I strongly believe that each generation is a product of the previous generation, and during the Ancient World, women were not expected to write. They were submissive and their religious superior had the final say. Sappho broke these
Gender-Based Notions of Homoerotic Love: Sappho and Plato’s Symposium The poetry of Sappho, and the speeches in Plato’s Symposium both deal primarily with homoerotic love, although Sappho, one of the only female poets in Ancient Greece, speaks from the female perspective, while Plato’s work focuses on the nature of this love between men. There are several fundamental elements that are common to both perspectives, including similar ideals of youth and beauty, and the idea of desire as integral
In ancient Greece, men who died in war fulfilled the civic ideal to the utmost. The women, destined to live out a degrading life, died in bed. Certainly, not all men died in battle, but every epitaph shows in one way or another, the city would always remember the men who died in war. Additionally, not all Athenian women died in bed; nonetheless, it was left to her family to preserve the memory of her not the city. No matter how perfect a woman was she would never receive the same status or level
Seizure Sappho wrote poems about lust, longing, suffering, and their connections to love. Her poetry is vivid, to the point where the reader or listener can feel the sentiments rising from the core of his or her own being. The poetry truly depicts a realistic picture of the bonds of love. Through the subtle differences of the poems, "A Prayer To Aphrodite," and "Seizure," Sappho conveys the intensity of the longing and suffering of love. In "A Prayer To Aphrodite," Sappho is offering
producing ecstasy, he asserts, that experience can be considered sublime. According to Longinus, this effect can be achieved through powerful rhetoric; he then examines the sublime nature of the rhetoric of many great writers, including Homer and Sappho. He also considers the sublime to exist in political oration, theorizing "those personages, presenting themselves to us and inflaming our ardor and as it were illumining our path, will carry our minds in a mysterious way to the high standards of subliminity
Sappho’s Tithonus poem bears an interesting duality of historical and literary relevance. Within this essay I focus on the relationship between Sappho and her audience as well as her use of myth, bearing in mind historical context and literary language, and structure. Sappho’s historical background is limited, with scant concrete evidence as to how her poems were performed, what her life was like or what type of relationship she had with her peers. The generally accepted theory is that her ‘circle’
experiences "such as birth, helplessness, illness, old age, and death," but, 2) people are culturally different because of the way they were brought up and they may live in a different environment created by human beings, and acquire a distinct social legacy from their own people. Kluckhohn suggests that where a person lives is one of the factors that determines one's culture. In China, people have a strong dislike for milk and milk products. In the United States, a person drinks milk from the time
The Soviet Union and the Legacy of Communist Rule The December of 1991 marked the end of the Soviet Union—and with it, an entire era. Like the February Revolution of 1917 that ended tsardom, the events leading up to August 1991 took place in rapid succession, with both spontaneity and, to some degree, retrospective inevitability. To understand the demise of Soviet Union is to understand the communist party-state system itself. Although the particular happenings of the Gorbachev years undoubtedly
The Legacy of Romanticism in The Great Gatsby The development of American Literature, much like the development of the nation, began in earnest, springing from a Romantic ideology that honored individualism and visionary idealism. As the nation broke away from the traditions of European Romanticism, America forged its own unique romantic style that would resonate through future generations of literary works. Through periods of momentous change, the fundamentally Romantic nature of American
Oppenheimer's Legacy J(ulius) Robert Oppenheimer (b. April 22, 1904, New York City--d. Feb. 18, 1967, Princeton, N.J., U.S.), U.S. theoretical physicist and science administrator, noted as director of the Los Alamos laboratory during development of the atomic bomb (1943-45) and as director of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton (1947-66). Accusations as to his loyalty and reliability as a security risk led to a government hearing that resulted in the loss of his security clearance and of