sappho context/background

Question 1

What were Sappho’s dates?

Answer 1

Uncertain 620BC - 570 BCE

Question 2

Why is Sappho significant?

Answer 2

One of the few Ancient female poets + gives female perspective on love in ancient world

Question 3

What does Sappho mention in her poetry?

Answer 3

Mentions her mother, brothers + daughters - no ref to a husband

Question 4

What did Plato refer to Sappho as?

Answer 4

10th muse

Question 5

How much did Sappho write?

Answer 5

Around 9 books in 6th century
Only around 600 fragments survive

Question 6

Why might’ve Sappho’s poetry been lost?

Answer 6

Written on papyrus which would rot, be used to wrap mummies, written over or lost in another way

Question 7

Where was Sappho’s poetry also recorded?

Answer 7

In library of Alexandria, which burnt down

Question 8

Where was Sappho born?

Answer 8

Lesbos

Question 9

How does Sappho write about Lesbos?

Answer 9

Variety of flowers + plants can flourish there

Question 10

What does Sappho say in poem 2?

Answer 10

Calls to Aphrodite + tempts her with the promise of Lesbos’ natural beauty

Question 11

What quote(s) describe Lesbos in poem 2?

Answer 11

“Apple trees”
“Cold water sings”
“Shadows of roses”
“Breezes blow gently”

Question 12

Where were Sappho’s family exiled to? When?

Answer 12

Sicily in early 6th cent BC
After government in Lesbos changed

Question 13

What did the government change mean? Where is this shown in Sappho’s poetry?

Answer 13

Lack of luxury
Poem 98, Sappho regrets not being able to provide a fancy headband for her daughter

Question 14

What sort of poetry did Sappho write?

Answer 14

Love
Hymns to gods
Songs for weddings

Question 15

What shows freedom for women in Lesbos?

Answer 15

There were female symposia

Question 16

What did Sappho also do?

Answer 16

Also provided musical accompaniment to poetry on a lyre

Question 17

What is Sappho credited for the creation of? What does this show?

Answer 17

Plectrum
Shows the must’ve had a unique playing style

Question 18

What does Sappho show in poem 118?

Answer 18

Her + her lyre look to each other for inso
Her playing gives the lyre a voice which she’ll use for poetry

Question 19

What can we never be certain about?

Answer 19

We can never presume that Sappho’s poems were autobiographical even if she uses ‘I’

Question 20

What was a thiasos?

Answer 20

Religious group of girls that would perform rituals

Question 21

What was lyric poetry?

Answer 21

Poetry w love as the central theme, performed w a lyre

Question 22

Where does Sappho show fashion + wealth?

Answer 22

Poem 57 - “what farm girl” “ragged dress”
Poet is shocked that her lover prefers a farm girl

Question 23

What does poem 39 show?

Answer 23

“Embroidered sandals”
Images of expensive, beautiful accessories

Question 24

What does poem 98a show?

Answer 24

Sappho talks about the changing fashions since her mothers generation
Suggests a society moved by status

Question 25

What is the 1 completed surviving poem we have from Sappho?

Answer 25

Hymn to Aphrodite

Question 26

What’s a topos?

Answer 26

A reoccurring feature in literature

Question 27

What are topoi in Sappho’s poetry?

Answer 27

(Pain of) love, passion, rejection
Nature,
Invocations of gods + personal relationships w gods,
Sappho’s role as a teacher
Marriage
Homeric influence
Death

Question 28

What literary tech does Sappho do in poem 1?

Answer 28

Topos
Focus shift
Nouns
Homeric influence
Epithets

Question 29

What’s a priamel? Which poem shows this?

Answer 29

Listed alternatives that encase the true subject which is revealed later in the poem
Poem 16 - we think its about war, but its about Anactoria

Question 30

Where do we see the topoi of flowers + nature?

Answer 30

Poem 96 “flowery fields” “beautiful dew”

Question 31

Where do we see topoi of Homeric?

Answer 31

Poem 16 - Sappho implies Helen chose to leave Menelaus + compares this to Anactoria choosing to leave Sappho

Question 32

Where do we see topoi of gods?

Answer 32

Poem 1 - Aphrodite directly speaks to Sappho + reassures her