Sappho

Sappho was perhaps the originator of the personal poetry genre. She lived on Lesbos a hundred years before the rise of Athens to pre-eminence. Long after her death, Plato praised her work as that of the Tenth Muse. Later eras, especially the early Christian church, saw her work as abominable because she dealt openly with sex and with feelings, so that her work was almost totally obliterated. A few new pieces emerged in 1950. Many poets have undertaken to translate her work. Sasha Newborn's version is personable, not academic. A Teacher's edition, the Supplement Edition of Sappho (www.createspace.com/3683159), contains a wealth of critical comment and background information on Sappho, her poetry, and her times; this was also compiled by Sasha Newborn. Sappho spoke in Aeolian Greek, and developed musical modes as well. She ran a school for girls that involved performances, presumably of her work as well as others, which would have combined dance, music, and poetry. Unlike the other great Greek poets, she did not write epics, only a few laudatory odes, and no drinking songs. Her delicately nuanced lines convey much more than the words on the page; one might call it an openness to life. Another book that centers on love, from the male perspective, is Dante and His Circle (www.createspace.com/4024060), poetry by the young Dante and more than a dozen Italian poets reviving and refining the rediscovery of love that the Troubadours had celebrated.

Sappho was perhaps the originator of the personal poetry genre. She lived on Lesbos a hundred years before the rise of Athens to pre-eminence. Long after her death, Plato praised her work as that of the Tenth Muse. Later eras, especially the early Christian church, saw her work as abominable because she dealt openly with sex and with feelings, so that her work was almost totally obliterated. A few new pieces emerged in 1950. Many poets have undertaken to translate her work. Sasha Newborn's version is personable, not academic. A Teacher's edition, the Supplement Edition of Sappho (www.createspace.com/3683159), contains a wealth of critical comment and background information on Sappho, her poetry, and her times; this was also compiled by Sasha Newborn. Sappho spoke in Aeolian Greek, and developed musical modes as well. She ran a school for girls that involved performances, presumably of her work as well as others, which would have combined dance, music, and poetry. Unlike the other great Greek poets, she did not write epics, only a few laudatory odes, and no drinking songs. Her delicately nuanced lines convey much more than the words on the page; one might call it an openness to life. Another book that centers on love, from the male perspective, is Dante and His Circle (www.createspace.com/4024060), poetry by the young Dante and more than a dozen Italian poets reviving and refining the rediscovery of love that the Troubadours had celebrated.

Sappho, the earliest and most famous Greek woman poet, sang her songs around 600 BCE on the island of Lesbos. Of what survives from the approximately nine papyrus scrolls collected in antiquity, all is translated here: substantial poems and fragments, including three poems discovered in the last two decades. The power of Sappho's poetry ‒ her direct style, rich imagery, and passion ‒ is apparent even in these remnants. Diane Rayor's translations of Greek poetry are graceful, modern in diction yet faithful to the originals. Sappho's voice is heard in these poems about love, friendship, rivalry, and family. In the introduction and notes, André Lardinois plausibly reconstructs Sappho's life and work, the performance of her songs, and how these fragments survived. This second edition incorporates thirty-two more fragments primarily based on Camillo Neri's 2021 Greek edition and revisions of over seventy fragments.

These hundred poems and fragments constitute virtually all of Sappho that survives and effectively bring to life the woman whom the Greeks consider to be their greatest lyric poet. Mary Barnard's translations are lean, incisive, direct—the best ever published. She has rendered the beloved poet's verses, long the bane of translators, more authentically than anyone else in English.

These hundred poems and fragments constitute virtually all of Sappho that survives and effectively bring to life the woman whom the Greeks consider to be their greatest lyric poet. Mary Barnard's translations are lean, incisive, direct—the best ever published. She has rendered the beloved poet's verses, long the bane of translators, more authentically than anyone else in English.