Sappho Through English Poetry

Sappho

The poetry of Sappho, who was born around 620 BC and lived on the Greek island of Lesbos, has inspired and fascinated readers and poets for two and a half thousand years. Today, as in antiquity, she is regarded as Greece's supreme lyric poet. Yet apart from a few near-complete poems, her poetry survives largely in tantalizing fragments.

This book traces Sappho's reception in English-language poetry through translations and poems about her. From Donne and Pope via Swinburne, Bliss Carman and Pound to contemporary poets such as Michael Longley and Olga Broumas, it both celebrates and illustrates our changing image of Sappho.

About the Author

Sappho was highly regarded as a poet in antiquity. Very little by way of solid fact is known about her. She was on friendly terms with the poet Alkaios; her brother Charoxos was a trader. She was later the subject of both sentimental and scurrilous myth-making, such as Ovid's story of her suicide for love of Phaon.

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