Sappho of Lesbos Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sappho of Lesbos - Essay Example Sappho’s poetry exhibits an intense relationship with the Greek Goddess of Love Aphrodite. Indeed, Sappho was involved in a thiasos, a cult organized to worship the goddess Aphrodite with poems and songs. In the poems Sappho’s relationship with goddess can be seen at times to reflect intense devotion, and at other times Sappho implores the goddess to grant her wishes or end her torment. In a poem titled ‘To Aphrodite of the Flowers at Knossos’ Sappho calls for the goddess to leave Krete and come and join her. In the final stanza she refers to the goddess deferentially as â€Å"Queen Aphrodite† and asks her to exultantly â€Å"pour heavenly nectar into gold cups.† This poem demonstrates Sappho’s thematic concern with Aphrodite as a celestial entity to be adored. In ‘Hymn to Aphrodite’ Sappho envisions the goddess as an entity towards which she pleas for help with a reluctant lover. In this poem Aphrodite responds, â€Å"â⠂¬â„¢Whom,’ thou criest, "dost wish that sweet Persuasion / Now win over and lead to thy love, my Sappho?† Like many other poems, this one shows the relationship between the goddess and poet to be intimate and developed. Throughout Sappho’s poetic oeuvre we witness her conflicted relationship with the effects of romantic love. While a large amount of Sappho’s poetry concerns love, she characterizes it as equally emitting anguish and salvation. In a fragment titled ‘The Blast of Love’ she writes, â€Å"Like a mountain whirlwind / punishing the oak trees / love shattered my heart.† Fragments like this which lament the throes of love, can be contrasted with other work where she revels and languishes in the powerful emotion. In a fragment called ‘To Eros’ she writes simply, â€Å"You burn me† While direct and simple, the sentiment characterizes Sappho’s conflicted nature with love. Even a quick perusal of