194{@24 @Sappho poems: pre-socratics
~4~ The moon shone full
when the maidens stood around the altar...
~5~
“He is dying, Aphrodite;
luxuriant Adonis is dying.
What should we do?”
“Beat your breasts,
young maidens.
And tear your garments
in grief.”
~6~
O, weep for Adonis!
~7~
But come, dear companions,
For day is near.
TRANSLATED BY JULIA DUBNOFF
Focus Questions:
1. Sappho presents herself, espectially in #1, as having a close relationship with
Aphrodite. What are the dynamics of this relationship? What does it say about
the religious perspectives possible to women?
2. How does Sappho portray herself as a lover? What is her relationship to the
objects of her love? Is her love reciprocated, or is the focus of the love of others?
3. What is the community of women implied by Sappho’s poems? What are their
activities? How do they feel about one another? Who are they? What stage of
life?
4. Do men have a place in Sappho’s poetry? If so, what is it? Do you get a sense of
male/female relationships from this poetry?
5. Is there anything about Sappho’s poetry that makes it particularly feminine?
6. What is it about Sappho’s poetry that would appeal enough to the male
readers/listeners so much that she was the only really famous female poet of her
period, the best-known female poet ever in the Greco-Roman w
