Sappho

John Maxwell Edmonds

"The Tenth Muse" sings to both sexes of desire, rapture, and sorrow. This concise collection of the ancient Greek poet's surviving works was assembled and translated by a distinguished classicist.

Poems of Sappho

Hika

Alexa Jade

I don’t know if it’s because I have the ebook version or what but the formatting of this book was awful. there would be 4 words on one page then broken up text on the next. no organization at all. it was a decent intro to sappho but the formatting really threw me off.

Dearna Mulvaney

Full review: https://wordsoftheroses.com/2018/06/1...

This was my first taste of Sappho’s poetry and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It amazing just how much emotion comes across in these fragments. Of her 9 books, we only have 1 complete poem with the rest surviving a mix of single lines and short stanzas.

Sappho’s style is quite different from the other ancient poets who survived like Homer or Virgil. Sappho’s poems feel more at home with modern poets. The gods do make an appearance in these lines but what is more prominent, isn’t the famous Greek heroes or monsters but is her sense of self and the ‘I’. Her rhythm and melody are direct and highly personal that it’s hard to imagine these lines are thousands of years old. Just goes to confirm that humanity at its core hasn’t changed much over the centuries. Her work is, I find, more relatable and accessible then other ancient literature I’ve read.

If you haven’t read any of Sappho’s poetry, I highly recommend you do! She is all kinds of wonderful

Poems of Sappho

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