Sappho

de Sappho, Diane J. Rayor, André Lardinois

Sappho, the earliest and most famous Greek woman poet, sang her songs around 600 BCE on the island of Lesbos. Of the little that survives from the approximately nine papyrus scrolls collected in antiquity, all is translated here: substantial poems, fragments, single words - and, notably, two new poems that came to light in 2014. Also included are two more small fragments from this latest discovery in 2004. Yet the power of Sappho's poetry - her direc style, rich imagery, and passion - is apparent even in these remnants. Diane Rayor's translations of Greek poetry are graceful and poetic, modern in diction yet faithful to the originals. The full range of Sappho's voice is heard in these poems about desire, friendship, rivalry, family, and "passion for the light of life." In the introduction, scholar André Lardinois presents plausible reconstructions of Sappho's life and work, the importance of the recent discovery in understanding the performance of her songs, and the story of how these fragments survived. -- dust jacket.