You make some great pints here, especially in regards to transition and the "gaps and uncertainties" of history.
I wonder about two possibilities for the sexuality in Sappho's poetry: the more generous one is bravery, as in she was fearless enough to pen her true feelings despite the relative censorship. The other is shrewdness, as in she knew that, even then, sex sold, and was writing to an audience.
I'm not enough of an expert to have a stronger opinion than this, but those are what come immediately to mind. Either way, she is worth our scrutiny.
Personally, I think neither. There was no censorship when it came to *writing* about sex, and there is no evidence that Sappho would have had any other reason to be scared. Remember: concepts of feminism and female sexual oppression simply didn't exist yet. I also doubt she was writing for an audience.. sure she gained celebrity from her work, but I don't think writing 10,000+ lines, with such mastery, was an attempt to gain popularity. She was an excellent, highly technical writer, who clearly enjoyed the art of crafting poetry. And the themes of sex and desire.. that's just what she wanted to write about. Sometimes there is no great scheme.
Lyrics poetry was made to be performed, very often by a group, so it’s not unlikely that some of her poems were written with the audience in my mind. It wouldn’t be surprising if some of the women she mentions sang with her/were her apprentices.
A great read, well researched and wonderfully written!
As a Classicist, I fall into the camp that believes we shouldn't try to label her sexuality, but this is my opinion purely based on my own research. After all, Ancient Greek sexuality doesn't fall as nicely into our modern labels as we would like. Nonetheless, I understand where you are coming from. It is undoubtable she loved women, and her being displayed as a lesbian is vital representation for a community that doesn't have many ancient figures to stand with. This is one of the rare instances where no matter the historical truth, which we will likely never fully know anyway as you pointed out, the modern view of her is more significant and important!
Thank you so much! I agree with you there: we will never know the historical truth. But then again, we'll never know the *whole* historical truth about anything.. so it's more about persuasiveness to me, and that's certainly where the evidence points.
Thank you so much for this. I was ignorant to Sappho and her works but read this piece a couple of weeks ago lead me down a rabbit hole and now 'Stung With Love' from the library to read.
You left out three other possibilities: a) Sappho might have been inspired by people she knew; b) she might have written what she thought people would like to hear (she most likely performed for audiences as a member of a group, maybe with some of the women/apprentices she mentioned, as it was common in those days, in which case “I” actually means “We”); c) she wrote about what she herself would like to hear (like women who write romance novels that feature characters nothing like real men/women or even like modern day yaoi/bl/yuri etc). We simply don’t know.
In fact, we don’t even know if the fragments we have were actually written by her or inspired by her style since that were made many years, even centuries, after her death and the quotations of her poems are indirect sources. The only thing we know for sure is that there was a woman poet named Sappho who pioneered a new style of lyric poetry and was deeply renowned by the greek.
There are dozens of possibilities. I chose to talk about those which both I and the wider scholarship believe to be most probable. I don't think the three you mentioned are very likely.
And in terms of her authorship, there are extensive studies which go into determining the voice of a piece of writing. There is no certainty in classics - we can't even be certain that a Sappho really existed - but there is historical evidence from which we can construct and argue for the most likely narrative.
There's loads, but I'd recommend Ellen Green & Joseph Paxton (eds.), Re-Reading Sappho: Reception and Transmission (University of California) for an overview of how Sappho has been received
Fascinating. And the pieces of poetry you quoted in the article seem strikingly modern and relatable. Some themes never die..
The relatability part is one of the main reasons I love history.. we can really connect with people in the past over so much time and space
You make some great pints here, especially in regards to transition and the "gaps and uncertainties" of history.
I wonder about two possibilities for the sexuality in Sappho's poetry: the more generous one is bravery, as in she was fearless enough to pen her true feelings despite the relative censorship. The other is shrewdness, as in she knew that, even then, sex sold, and was writing to an audience.
I'm not enough of an expert to have a stronger opinion than this, but those are what come immediately to mind. Either way, she is worth our scrutiny.
Personally, I think neither. There was no censorship when it came to *writing* about sex, and there is no evidence that Sappho would have had any other reason to be scared. Remember: concepts of feminism and female sexual oppression simply didn't exist yet. I also doubt she was writing for an audience.. sure she gained celebrity from her work, but I don't think writing 10,000+ lines, with such mastery, was an attempt to gain popularity. She was an excellent, highly technical writer, who clearly enjoyed the art of crafting poetry. And the themes of sex and desire.. that's just what she wanted to write about. Sometimes there is no great scheme.
Lyrics poetry was made to be performed, very often by a group, so it’s not unlikely that some of her poems were written with the audience in my mind. It wouldn’t be surprising if some of the women she mentions sang with her/were her apprentices.
A great read, well researched and wonderfully written!
As a Classicist, I fall into the camp that believes we shouldn't try to label her sexuality, but this is my opinion purely based on my own research. After all, Ancient Greek sexuality doesn't fall as nicely into our modern labels as we would like. Nonetheless, I understand where you are coming from. It is undoubtable she loved women, and her being displayed as a lesbian is vital representation for a community that doesn't have many ancient figures to stand with. This is one of the rare instances where no matter the historical truth, which we will likely never fully know anyway as you pointed out, the modern view of her is more significant and important!
Thank you so much! I agree with you there: we will never know the historical truth. But then again, we'll never know the *whole* historical truth about anything.. so it's more about persuasiveness to me, and that's certainly where the evidence points.
Thank you so much for this. I was ignorant to Sappho and her works but read this piece a couple of weeks ago lead me down a rabbit hole and now 'Stung With Love' from the library to read.
I'm so happy to hear that omg! I hope you enjoy it, she's one of the greats
You left out three other possibilities: a) Sappho might have been inspired by people she knew; b) she might have written what she thought people would like to hear (she most likely performed for audiences as a member of a group, maybe with some of the women/apprentices she mentioned, as it was common in those days, in which case “I” actually means “We”); c) she wrote about what she herself would like to hear (like women who write romance novels that feature characters nothing like real men/women or even like modern day yaoi/bl/yuri etc). We simply don’t know.
In fact, we don’t even know if the fragments we have were actually written by her or inspired by her style since that were made many years, even centuries, after her death and the quotations of her poems are indirect sources. The only thing we know for sure is that there was a woman poet named Sappho who pioneered a new style of lyric poetry and was deeply renowned by the greek.
There are dozens of possibilities. I chose to talk about those which both I and the wider scholarship believe to be most probable. I don't think the three you mentioned are very likely.
And in terms of her authorship, there are extensive studies which go into determining the voice of a piece of writing. There is no certainty in classics - we can't even be certain that a Sappho really existed - but there is historical evidence from which we can construct and argue for the most likely narrative.
What researchers are you including in wider scholarship? I’m always curious to read more about Sappho.
There's loads, but I'd recommend Ellen Green & Joseph Paxton (eds.), Re-Reading Sappho: Reception and Transmission (University of California) for an overview of how Sappho has been received