Sarah McGonagill

GSI: Kuan S. Hwa

8 October 2016

Sappho’s “Sweet Apple”: A Précis

            “Sweet Apple” [105a, 105c/B93, B94] (as titled by the curator of the Bacchicstage blog based on the translation of G. Theodoridis) is a poem in two parts by Greek lyricist Sappho.

Sappho’s style is melodic and sensual; this piece, which is likely a compilation of some of her written fragments, is no exception and offers a paradigmatic glimpse of her work. 

Sappho introduces Part I of the poem with the use of a simile, in which she compares her subject to a “sweet apple” (line 2), a symbol often synonymous with knowledge or temptation and also referred to as “the forbidden fruit.”  She continues, her muse is “reddening at the highest branch, missed by the apple pickers” (lines 2 & 3).  Here, she asserts that the apple, a woman who must have been the object of Sappho’s affection, is ripening to become an entity of great beauty, admired, desired and even envied by those around her.  Further, Sappho insists here that her muse is ripening/developing not just as any other would, but at the very highest degree; she is the epitome of all that “the woman” represents.  In the lines that follow, rounding out Part I, Sappho articulates: “But no, // They did not miss you! // They just couldn’t reach so // high” (lines 4-7).  She refers to the unattainability of her muse, a beautiful and mature feminine being; others around her surely recognize and are attracted by her magnificence, but they can do nothing more than ogle from afar, her beauty just out of their reach.  Try though they might, her splendor, position and wholeness are disappointingly and agonizingly unreachable.  In this short fragment alone, Sappho so eloquently manifests the notion of human desire, even more specifically that having to do with archetypal expectations of society placed on the idea of a strong woman figure.

In the opening of Part II, Sappho once again employs the use of a simile, this time comparing her muse to the likeness of a flower (“You’re just like the mountain // Hyacinth,” lines 9 & 10).  Of course, flowers in general can symbolize everything from innocence and purity, to coming of age—another reference of sorts to the “blossoming”/”ripening” that resonates throughout Part I.  Sappho’s choice of the hyacinth, specifically, is profound: it is a flower particularly bold in color and in fragrance, named for another figure in Greek mythology/history, and is noted to have both poisonous and curative properties (a pharmakon).  Surely, this is yet another allusion to the character and virtues Sappho distinguishes in her artistic inspiration.  Sappho concludes the poem: “trodden by the shepherds // next to the purple // blossoms” (lines 11-13).  In these lines, Sappho conveys the fragility of the flower, emphasizing the means by which it is easily destroyed, especially by the actions of man and mankind.  Sappho seeks to warn her muse, calling attention to the sense that beauty and preciousness are often taken for granted or exploited, and further, that this exploitation can be out of the control of the individual, leaving one surrounded and reminded by the monotonous duplicates of what once was.