A little bit of Paradis

Paradis | October 18, 2009

Awed by her splendor
stars near the lovely
moon cover their own
bright faces
when she
is roundest and lights
earth with her silver

Category: Famous Poetry |
Tags: Saphho

Paradis | October 18, 2009

You may forget
You may forget but
let me tell you
this: someone in
some future time
will think of us
Sappho

Category: Famous Poetry |
Tags: Saphho

Paradis | October 12, 2009

Sappho is one of the greatest if not the greatest of the early Greek lyric poets.She would play the pectis (a harp) to accompany her poems.
Plato refered to Sappho as the tenth muse, her poetry was well known and often quoted well into Roman times.

Sappho was born around 615 BC on the North East island of Lesbos, during this time the Greek alphabet was invented, and the arts were payed more attention and became more important. Sappho was loved throughout the ancient times for her personal qualities and creativity.

She was born into an aristocratic and socialy prominent family, but was orphaned at the age of six. Her father was a prosperous wine merchant. Not much is known about her. Sappho had a daughter by the name of Cleis, named after her mother. Sappho’s husband died when she was thirty five.

Enough of Sappho’s poetry has survived for modern readers to appreciate her contributions to Greek poetry. Many of Sappho’s poems were preserved in fragments by the Egyptians because the poems were cut in strips and used to wrap their mummies.

In Christian times, Sappho’s poetry did not fare so well. The Church declared her whorish and her poetry immoral. Saint Gregory ordered her poems to be burned. Pope Gregory VII ordered her poems to be burned publicly. Yet her work was so highly regarded by the poets that they were preserved in part because she was so widely quoted.

Paradis

Category: Biographies |
Tags: Biographies, Saphho