These innovative English translations bring Sappho startlingly to life, both as a poet and as a woman who was modern, fearless, erotic, liberated, and way ahead of her time. I will read all of them again with great relish.
Sappho was one of the very first people to capture in poetry the idea that the human body was not a vessel of sin, but a temple of what is holy in this world. Sappho is a true muse, and I am greatly looking forward to being in her presence again.
Yes, and when other poets were glorifying "gods" and kings and war, Sappho was glorifying love and intimacy. When Sappho praised a god, it was Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Sappho feminized poetry and we see that in the more sensitive male poets, like Shelley and Keats.
All original thinkers can be slightly shocking and can make some people uncomfortable. But it's always these innovative thinkers who live on to be called 'classical' and 'timeless' because they dared (unlike Eliot's 'Prufrock' to disturb the universe. As Sappho says:
Yes, Sappho was reckless in the causes of love, poetry and serving her Muse. And she was like Walt Whitman, upsetting the various apple carts of polite society. Just imagine what the Moral Majority of her day must have made of her! Who is this girl saying that her lover is more important to her than gods, kings, columns of warriors and fleets of warships?
I have read numerous translations of Sappho, and I never fully understood why the ancient Greeks considered her the Tenth Muse until I read Mike’s unparalleled translations of her impeccable work. Mike brings her to life in a way that the academically acclaimed translations do not. Bravo, Mike!
These innovative English translations bring Sappho startlingly to life, both as a poet and as a woman who was modern, fearless, erotic, liberated, and way ahead of her time. I will read all of them again with great relish.
Martin, if you read my translations again, I will be honored. There are some of my favorite translations by other translators as well.
Sappho was one of the very first people to capture in poetry the idea that the human body was not a vessel of sin, but a temple of what is holy in this world. Sappho is a true muse, and I am greatly looking forward to being in her presence again.
Yes, and when other poets were glorifying "gods" and kings and war, Sappho was glorifying love and intimacy. When Sappho praised a god, it was Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Sappho feminized poetry and we see that in the more sensitive male poets, like Shelley and Keats.
All original thinkers can be slightly shocking and can make some people uncomfortable. But it's always these innovative thinkers who live on to be called 'classical' and 'timeless' because they dared (unlike Eliot's 'Prufrock' to disturb the universe. As Sappho says:
Remember? In our youth
we did such reckless things.
Yes, Sappho was reckless in the causes of love, poetry and serving her Muse. And she was like Walt Whitman, upsetting the various apple carts of polite society. Just imagine what the Moral Majority of her day must have made of her! Who is this girl saying that her lover is more important to her than gods, kings, columns of warriors and fleets of warships?
I have read numerous translations of Sappho, and I never fully understood why the ancient Greeks considered her the Tenth Muse until I read Mike’s unparalleled translations of her impeccable work. Mike brings her to life in a way that the academically acclaimed translations do not. Bravo, Mike!
I believe Sappho merits being called the Tenth Muse, taking her place among the immortal goddesses.
I couldn’t agree more, Mike.
I'm always glad when we agree!
I am as well!