Greek Poet Sappho Biography

Regarded Most Famous Love Poetess in European Literature History

Aug 27, 2009 Tel Asiado

Brief biography of Greek poet Sappho, one of the greatest poets of ancient Greece, with work recovered from nine books of poetry fragments.

Sappho (c.610 BC - c.580 BC) was one of the greatest poets of ancient Greece, and perhaps the most famous female poet in the history of European literature. All that is known about her life is that she was born on the Greek island of Lesbos (also known as Lesvos and Mytilene) that she was married, and that she had a daughter named Cleïs.

Short Profile of Sappho

Sappho's poetry was loved and admired by later Greek writers, especially Catullus who translated her works with grandeur, and would have known more poems by her. Many legends grew up about her life. Some said that she was the lover of Alcaeus, another poet from the island of Lesbos.

The ancient Roman poet Ovid tells the story that she jumped to her death from a cliff because of her love for a boatman called Phaon. It is unlikely that either of these stories is true.

Sappho's Poetry

Sappho's poems were arranged in nine books but only fragments have survived of those she wrote in her lifetime, and it is not known when they were written. Most of them are about her friends and family. She was one of the first to write lyrical poems that expressed personal feelings. They are remarkable for their passionate descriptions of emotion and the simple beauty of the language.

The famous American writer Gertrude Stein speaks about the time when a poet "could say "O moon," "O sea," "O love," and the moon and the sea and love were really there."

And where Homer's sunrise has rosy fingers, to Sappho, it is the moon. Such apparent feelings of "love is in the air" comes from reading Sappho.

Poetry Written to Women

The majority of Sappho's love poems are addressed to or focused on relationships among women. It seems that she had a circle of close female friends who were the audience for her poetry and with whom she may have performed religious rituals, worshiping the goddess Aphrodite.

As a result of her relationship and special bonding to women she has often been labeled as a homosexual. The word "lesbian," which originally meant "a person from the island of Lesbos," has in modern times become the term used for a female homosexual.

Sappho, Poet of Love

Greek poet Sappho died young, c. 30 years old, in Mytilene on the island of Lesbos where she also grew up. Only fragments of her books of verses have been found or through quotations from other writers are available. Her poetry focuses on love, and it is personal and emotional rather than religious or political.

Sources:

• McGovern, Una, Ed. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers, 2002.
• Payne, Tom. The A-Z of Great Writers. London: Carlton, 1997.
• Uglow, Jennifer, Compiler & Editor, revised by Maggy Hendry. The Macmillan Dictionary of Women's Biography, 3rd Edition. London: Macmillan Publishers, 1999.

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Greek Poet Sappho with Alcaeus in a Vase

Bust of Greek Poet Sappho