Sappho

Topic for Discussion

In Focus: Song 31 of Sappho

|1 He appears [phainetai] to me, that one, equal to the gods [īsos theoisin], |2 that man who, facing you |3 is seated and, up close, that sweet voice of yours |4 he listens to, |5 and how you laugh a laugh that brings desire. Why, it just |6 makes my heart flutter within my breast. |7 You see, the moment I look at you, right then, for me |8… Read more

Book Club

Book Club | February 2014: Poems of Sappho

Some say an army of horsemen, some of footsoldiers, some of ships, is the fairest thing on the black earth, but I say it is what one loves. (Sappho 16, lines 1-4, trans. Julia Dubnoff) Sappho captures the essence of love and expresses it with words that makes your tongue have a breakdown and make fire rush under your skin. My tongue has a breakdown and a delicate– all of… Read more