Sappho

1. Sappho World Literature Mr. Brennan

2. Do-Now Transition from the Mythic & Epic to the Lyrical In reviewing the mythic and epic literature already discussed in class, What can be said about… …man’s role in the world? …the expression of the human condition? …the voice of the narrator?

3. AGENDA SWBATexplain the similarities and/or differences between mythic and epic literature and lyrical literature. Content Objective • Unit Introduction: Ancient Greece • Mini-Lecture: Sappho and Lyrical Poetry • Class Reading: Sappho Poetry • Activity: Poetry Analysis Homework: Response to Sappho’s Poetry Reminder: Beowulf Essay (Collect Books) Homework Reminders

4. Ancient Greece: Sappho Essential Questions • What challenges are associated with literary fragments? • What are the similarities and/or differences between mythic and epic literature and lyrical literature? (i.e. content, style, structure) • How is the perception of homoeroticism within Sappho’s poetry similar and/or different to its perception within our present society?

5. Sappho • Sappho (c. 630-570 BC) was a Greek poet and identified as one of “the nine lyric poets” of archaic Greece, meaning her works were studied by all those wishing to claim that they were properly educated. * Plato called her the tenth Muse • Sappho was a respected and well known lyrical poet during her time, against a backdrop of a male dominating society where few feminine literary names appeared. • Her poetry was written with a clarity of image and sparseness of language unprecedented (unheard of)in Ancient Greece; there is almost nothing like her poetry in the ancient world.

6. Lyrical Poetry • In archaic and classical Greek culture, lyrical poetry would be sung by one person live to the accompaniment of the lyre (hence the name) • Lyrical poetry is romantic in subject matter and strongly emotional in delivery. • Lyric poetry depends on meter syllables/stresses. • Sapphic stanzas consist of three lines of eleven syllables followed by a five syllable line.

7. "Poetry is what is lost in translation”(Frost) • The bulk of her poetry, which was well-known and greatly admired through much of antiquity, has been lost; however, her reputation has endured through surviving fragments, • Greek lyrical poetry has a base in formand sound; together, they amplify meaning, yet, the fragmentation of her work makes it difficult to translate her poetry in its entirety and the added dimension of form is removed • If you change the words to another language which has different word-associations, and you change the phonetics, the sentence structure, and thus, create a new piece of writing. You may have captured the meaning, but you have demolished the form.

8. Sappho Poetry Analysis • Sappho's poetry centers on passion and love for various people and both sexes. • The word lesbian derives from the name of the island of her birth, Lesbos (applied to female homosexuality in the 19th century) • Her homoerotica(temporary desire) should be placed in the context of the period; where it may have been more accepted to love many, to be captivated by all things beautiful. It was believe that she may have been married and conceived children.

9. Sappho Poetry Analysis • Sappho's poetry centers on passion and love for various people and both sexes. • The word lesbian derives from the name of the island of her birth, Lesbos (applied to female homosexuality in the 19th century) • Her homoerotica(temporary desire) should be placed in the context of the period; where it may have been more accepted to love many, to be captivated by all things beautiful. It was believe that she may have been married and conceived children.

10. Sappho Poetry Analysis • Rather than strictly addressing the gods or recounting epic narratives (i.e. Homer), Sappho’ speaks on the individual level. • Sappho exposed the drive toward personalization and self expression, revealing a poet can not only look around the world for material, but can go within, exploring and documenting what is going on inside the poet, inside Herself, which is a giant stride in the world of Individuality • Already in the time of Sappho in mid 7th century BC, we have the outline of what makes a person, a pattern which we have progressively filled in from then right into our own time.

11. Sappho • Her constant reference to nature is part of the her religious framework; she is not decorating her poems with flowers and ferns, she is connecting her interior feelings with the connectedness of the universe, the world of animate life everywhere. • In Sappho we see the dawn of lyric poetry, of poetics as the personal, which is an early resistance to the mode of epic heroism.

13. What does the speaker ask of Aphrodite in the opening? Where or what is "your father's golden house”? What animals does Aphrodite hitch her chariot to? Why is that in/appropriate as a beast of burden for the goddess of love? What does Aphrodite promise to provide the speaker? In the last stanza, the speaker asks Aphrodite for an odd favor. Why is that favor odd, given the nature of the goddess Aphrodite?

14. What images emerge, from the poetry of Sappho, regarding the life of aristocratic women in Ancient Greece? Specifically, regarding: • their values and concerns? the conditions of their existence? • their daily lives? their social roles? • the attitude toward love? the role love played in their life? • the different forms of love? the nature of their relation to men and other women?

15. What images emerge, from the poetry of Sappho, regarding: • the life of aristocratic women in Ancient Greece? • their values and concerns? • the conditions of their existence? • their social roles? • their daily lives? • the nature of their relation to men and other women? • the attitude toward love? • the role love played in their life? • the different forms of love?

16. What images emerge, from the poetry of Sappho, regarding: • the life of aristocratic women in Ancient Greece? • their values and concerns? • the conditions of their existence? • their social roles? • their daily lives? • the nature of their relation to men and other women? • the attitude toward love? • the role love played in their life? • the different forms of love?

17. What images emerge, from the poetry of Sappho, regarding: • the life of aristocratic women in Ancient Greece? • their values and concerns? • the conditions of their existence? • their social roles? • their daily lives? • the nature of their relation to men and other women? • the attitude toward love? • the role love played in their life? • the different forms of love?

18. Sappho 31 • What does she long for? • How does she physically respond to the presence of this man? • How does she believe she should respond?

20. Homework Compose a 2-3 paragraph reflection on Sappho’s poetry. Use the prompts below as a guide in your writing. • How does the poetry of Sappho, and her focus on love, reveal a shift from the literature that came before her? • How does Sappho’s poetry portray the notion of love? • How is this perception different from contemporary society’s ideas on love? • What are your general thoughts regarding these contrasting perceptions?