Over 2,600 years past her lifetime; Sappho is still widely regarded as a significant force in the world of poetry. Though her surviving works consist of mere fragments, they continue to influence present-day conceptions of lyric composition, romance, and emotional articulation. Known throughout antiquity and recently revived amongst current audiences, Sappho illustrates how incomplete artworks could last for millennia.
Born in approximately 620 B.C.E., on the Greek isle of Lesbos near the cities of Mytilene and Eressos, we have only tiny glimpses into Sappho’s life, as much of that knowledge has been distorted over time through subsequent generations of authors’ imaginings intermingled with factual information. While many scholars have declared her among Greece’s finest poets, one of the more prominent endorsements may have come from the philosopher Plato, who described her as “the tenth Muse,” according to the Poetry Foundation.
Sappho’s focus on individual emotions is one of the reasons that lyric poetry is defined as it is. It is a lyric poem, as it was composed for performance with a lyre, an instrument that played a key role in many of Sappho’s songs.
As Sappho’s works have been lost over centuries, most of her poetry now exists only as fragments. Sappho’s poetry was once collected by ancient scholars into 9 books; however, only 1 of her poems is still able to be read in its original form. Judith Schalansky comments on the effect that Sappho’s incomplete poetry has had on her persona, stating that it has allowed readers to imagine what else her lines could mean.
In addition to her influence on lyric poetry, Sappho has also played an important part in LGBTQ+ history; the terms “lesbian” and “sapphic” were coined from her life and work on Lesbos, and many of her surviving poems express romantic feelings toward women. Although many scholars warn against comparing the contemporary usage of these terms with how they may have been used in antiquity, Sappho’s poetry has endured as a symbol of female desire and queer identity.
Sappho’s poems are still very relatable today and have a very modern feel to them. The American Academy of Poets highlights the fact that Sappho’s writing emphasized both feelings of vulnerability and personal experiences, but her work also influenced many years of poets after her. Although most of her writings have been lost, the few remaining fragments still carry impact because they are about feelings all of us can relate to across multiple generations, even thousand of years apart. “Someone will remember us / I say / even in another time.” Even after 2000 years, Sappho’s statement was correct and continues to be largely accurate today!