Name: The Pocket Sappho
ISBN: 9781611806915

Willis Barnstone

Sappho's thrilling lyric verses have been unremittingly popular for more than 2,600 years--certainly a record for poetry of any kind--and love for her art only increases as time goes on. Though her extant work consists only of a collection of fragments and a handful of complete poems, her mystique endures to be discovered anew by each generation, and to inspire new efforts at bringing the spirit of her Greek words faithfully into English. This book is adapted from a book previously in hardcover as Sweetbitter Love.

The Pocket Sappho

Kelly Macquire

Someone, I tell you, in another time, 
Will remember us. 

This book is exactly what it says it is, the pocket Sappho. As someone who has never read Sappho before, I can’t think of a better way to start. I found the introduction well written and highly informative for someone coming into this anthology with minimal prior knowledge. 

The introduction, albeit fairly briefly, described some of the wrought history of Sappho and although I’m positive I can find longer and more detailed descriptions of our knowledge of Sappho, her works and the history of her poems, this was a great overview of the fundamentals of the history which placed the poems in their context. 

I am longing to read more.