#fragments of sappho

[sweetmeatdale]

“Someone will remember us, I say,”

“Even in another time.”

[reverie-quotes]

may you sleep on the breast of your delicate friend

— Sappho, If Not, Winter (tr. Carson)

[petaltexturedskies]

Sometimes at sunset the rosyfingered moon surpasses all the stars. And her light stretches over salt sea equally and flowerdeep fields. And the beautiful dew is poured out and roses bloom and frail chervil and flowering sweetclover.

Sappho, from If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho (trans. by Anne Carson)

[talkshowboyluvr]

tbosas characters as sappho fragments

[infinite-of-sky]

Every once in a while I remember Anne Carson's If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho, and I have to go crazy and read it all in one sitting. Anyway, have a few choice Sappho fragments:

[aphrodisianbaby]

I would absolutely love to hear more about your Aphrodite & Sappho UPG if you're comfortable with sharing! 💖

hello lovely ! I am comfortable, though it's heavily influenced by how i interpret Sappho's work and how i view Aphrodite. a lot of it stems from my own relationship with Aphrodite, and the ways I feel She interacts with Her devotees. me, and many others I've met, have very personal and intimate relationships with Aphrodite. Her willingness to extend Her influence or opinion over anything that matters to me is something I deeply appreciate about her. it's what allowed me to cultivate a very unique love for Her and feel assured that She loves me back.

Sappho's poetry in particular has heavy themes of love and longing. she writes of the her love for the people in her life, the things she admires, and particularly writes of details in the world around her. when i read Sappho's work, I feel a sense of love and wonder for the world she inhabited.

poetry hinges on personal interpretation, but I feel like Sappho was entrenched in a very romantic view of the world. even something as commonplace like the cicadas is worth observing and turning into poetry. i believe the world was a poem to someone like Sappho, and when I first discovered her works it reminded me deeply of how the world looks when Aphrodite is around. I see Aphrodisian themes in a multitude of Sappho's fragments as well.

the Ode to Aphrodite really sealed my UPG however. for one, it's the only known poem of Sappho that we have in it's entirety. i wouldn't be surprised if Aphrodite had a small hand in ensuring it's preservation and survival. the poem itself is so beautiful too. Sappho speaks directly to Aphrodite with such a familiarity and openness. the poem isn't a lovey-dovey love song, it both praises and curses Aphrodite for the pains She inflicts. many hymns are worded to flatter the Theoi, but Sappho gives much more personality and dimension to Aphrodite. these lines in particular stand out heavily to me:

"and you, blessed one, with a smile"

"asked what was the matter with me this time and why I was calling this time"

"who wrongs you, Sappho?"

this is not their first meeting by a long shot, there's such familiarity that Aphrodite smiles when She sees Sappho. Aphrodite asks Sappho what is the matter, and Aphrodite has come when Sappho called out to Her.

there is such an endearing air to these lines. hell, to the entire poem. even as Sappho vents to Aphrodite, she still asks for Her to deliver her from the sorrows that Aphrodite is blamed for at the end of the poem

i hold a UPG that Sappho was "devoted" (however that looked for her) to Aphrodite in a relationship that was intimate and personal. i believe that Sappho probably held a love for Aphrodite that was unique to the human women she knew. I also believe that Aphrodite held Sappho very dearly, both because of how Sappho portrays Aphrodite and because of my views on Aphrodite as a goddess.

i hesitate to say that they were "in love" with each other, because i think that is probably a gross oversimplification. I think that Sappho adored Aphrodite, and that Aphrodite adored her back. I think that the things Sappho cries to Aphrodite are deeper than a typical kharis-based relationship. i think that Aphrodite heard poetry from her that no other ear was privy to. so, I simply call them lovers, because in one way or another i believe that love was not one-sided

[beebooks]

normal times, regular behavior

[pluggedintosaverockandroll]

"you came and I was crazy for you

and you cooled my mind that burned with longing"

- Sappho (translated by Anne Carson in If not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho)

[madtangledblues]

anne carson - if not, winter: fragments of sappho

[plutos-satellite]

“Someone will remember us, I say, even in another time”

Sappho, Fragment 147

[queercodex]

fragments of sappho

c. 600 BCE

[reverie-quotes]

but I am not someone who likes to wound rather I have a quiet mind

— Sappho, If Not, Winter (tr. Carson)

[petaltexturedskies]

(I was dreaming of you but) just then Dawn, in her golden sandals (woke me)

Sappho, from Sappho: Poems & Fragments (tr. Josephine Balmer)

[chimshasha]

[talkshowboyluvr]

said i wouldn't drink tonight but. *cracks open the translations of sappho's fragments*

[suaveotter]

"Nice"

- Anne Carson, Fragments of Sappho