Path: Lesbians : Famous lesbians : Sappho
(This is a computer translation of the original article in Spanish. It should not be regarded as complete or accurate.)
Sappho was a Greek poetess born in 600 B.C. in the island of Lesbos, probably in Mitilene. Plato referred to her as " the tenth muse". It is said that she belonged to noble family, that she had three brothers and that she was married with a rich man. She had a daughter called Cleis. From the fragments that survive of her poems it is known that Sappho was producing worship to the goddess Afrodita teaching poetry, music and other arts to a group of young women for whom, according to the poet Anacreonte, she was feeling sexual attraction. This is the origin of the terms sapphism and lesbianism to refer to the feminine homosexuality. Sappho departed from the island of Lesbos towards Sicily for political unknown motives. The most famous work of Sappho is the Ode to Aphrodite. Her poetry is characterized by the perfection and feeling. Sappho invented a poem known as Sapphic ode. Almost all her poetry is dedicated to girls, and someone to her brothers. She touched the lyre while she recited. The influence of Sappho spread between many Greek writers. Between the works of Sappho there are nine books of odes, anthems, elegies and wedding songs, which conservation is very fragmentary. She died on having thrown herself for a cliff, there is not known if for the affectionate spite of a man or of a woman. After her death coins were minted with her image and the Athenians erected a statue. In the year 1703, the Catholic Church ordered to burn all the copies of the poems of Sappho of which only they managed to recover a third. Undoubtedly Sappho marked a milestone in the history of the lesbianism.
Ode to Aphrodite <---
Her most well-known work.
To the dear one
Seem to me that there is equal to the gods the
mortal one that sits down opposite to you, and from so close he hears you
speaking sweetly and smiling that way so charming. The spectacle melts my heart
inside the breast. Scarcely I see you a moment like that, remain without voice.
I unite the tongue. A penetrating fire flows at once below my skin. My eyes do
not see nothing and the ears start ragging me. It falls down to me in abundance
the perspiration. My entire body trembles. I become more green than the grass. I
remain weakened and it is all my aspect that of a deceased...
In the distance
Indeed, I would like to die. On having said
goodbye of me crying, she mumbled me the following words: "Dear Sappho, black
luck mine. Really makes me sad to have to leave you. " And I answered her: " You
can go in calm. You try not to forget me, because well you know that I will
always be next to you. And if not, I want to remind you what you forget: all the
happy hours we have happened together. There have been great the crowns of
violets, roses, flower of saffron and branches of aneldo, that along with me you
adhered. There have been great the necklaces that you hung by your delicate
neck, textiles of fragrant flowers for our hands. The times have been great that
you spilled balsam of myrrh and a royal ointment on my head. "
The dear stays away
I was equaling you to a distinguished
goddess, and you were enchanted with her singing like with another none. But she
went away, and now she stands out between the checkers you fight the same as the
moon of pink fingers eclipses all the stars as soon as the sun was put. And her
sheen bathes of silver the brackish sea, and illuminates the flowery countries,
where it has fallen down the dew and the roses have sprouted, the tender
chervil, the sweet flowers of the trefoil. Any more in the bustle of her new
life she does not stop longing for the fondness of her dear Atis, and in the
breast the heart hurts her of nostalgia.
Description: poetry of Sappho, poems, Sappho of Mitilene, Sappho of Lesbos, biography for Sappho, life, works, history, studies, poetess, odes, work of Sappho.
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