Sappho

Sappho (Attic Greek ????? Sapphô, Aeolic Greek ????? Psappha) was an Ancient Greek lyric poet from the city of Eressos on the island of Lesbos, which was a cultural centre in the 7th century BC. She was born sometime between 630 BC and 612 BC. The bulk of her poetry is now lost, but her reputation in her time was immense, and she was reputedly considered by Plato as the tenth Muse.

References in modern literature

Lord Byron wrote the following lines about her in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage:

Related Topics:
Lord Byron - Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

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:And onward viewed the mount, not yet forgot,

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:The lover's refuge and the Lesbian's grave.

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:Dark Sappho! could not verse immortal save

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:That breast imbued with such immortal fire?

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Charles Baudelaire writes about Sappho in Les Fleurs du Mal.

Related Topics:
Charles Baudelaire - Les Fleurs du Mal

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The Greek poet Odysseas Elytis (20th century AD from Lesbos) admired her in one of his Mikra Epsilon: Such a being, both sensitive and courageous, is not often presented by life. A small-built deep-dark-skinned girl, that did prove to be equally capable of subjugating a rose-flower, interpreting a wave or a nightingale, and saying 'I love you', to fill the globe with emotion.

Related Topics:
Odysseas Elytis - 20th century

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