The Complete Poems of Sappho by Willis Barnstone

Author:Willis Barnstone [Barnstone, Willis]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

1. In addition to ancient testimonia, abundant praise and reference to Sappho in literature continues into modern times, and especially since the nineteenth century. Most of it is not worthy of Sappho, but included here are a few outstanding ones by major poets.

2. Both selections are translated by Willis Barnstone.

SOURCES, NOTES, AND COMMENTARY

IN THIS SECTION, I provide source and additional information for the poems translated in this edition, as well as ancient commentary related to the poems. The notes that follow give, first, the source of the poem, then any ancient commentary in quotation marks, followed by my own explanatory comments. For more information on the sources, see the Introduction. More information on the poems is also provided in the Glossary.

1 Papyri Oxyrhynchus 2288. Also Dionysios of Halikarnassos On Literary Composition 23 (6.114ss Usener-Radermacher).

“I shall now give paradigms of this style (that is, polished and exuberant), selecting Sappho among poets and Isokratis among orators. I begin with the lyric poet.” [There follows the poem, and then again Dionysios.] “The euphony and charm of this passage lie in the cohesion and smoothness of the connecting phrases. For the words are juxtaposed and interwoven according to the natural affinities and groupings of the letters. . . .” See the Testimonia for a more complete context of the poem, being with “The polished and florid composition . . .”

This poem to Afroditi is usually considered one of two complete poems of Sappho that have survived. Though it is therefore not a fragment, by accepted convention all lines of Sappho are identified by their “fragment” number, and here too we refer to it as fragment 1. The other complete poem, fragment 58, was published for the first time in 2005. There are fragments of other poems, however, that have more lines than this complete poem, such as fragment 44, “Wedding of Andromache and Hektor.” Despite the tone of intimate friendship and cheerful camaraderie, the poem to Afroditi has the formal structure of a prayer, with the expected invocation, sanction, and entreaty.

2 Ostracon Florentinum, ed. M. Norsa, Annali della reale Scuola normale superiore di Pisa, Lettere, Storia e Filosofia, series 2, 6 (1937).

Kriti [Crete] was thought to be the original seat of worship of Afroditi, or so its inhabitants claimed. The scene described here is a real place in Lesbos, devoted to the worship of Afroditi. Apples and horses were symbols of Afroditi, who was known as Afroditi of the Apples as well as Afroditi of the Horses. The prayer for epiphany in the poem is by no means proof that Sappho was a priestess or a poet of cult songs. Her concern with Afroditi was with a figure who represented beauty and love.

Line 11 retains only the first two words, and line 12 is missing altogether. The English translation might retain obediently, not indent, line 11 and leave an extra blank line or brackets between the third and fourth stanzas. However, here as elsewhere I attempt to go partway in reflecting the abused Greek text (which can have its own delight and freshness in mirrored English).

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