Sappho Translated By Theodoridis

“Eros Again!”

            It is believed that Sappho was a lyrical, women poet in born around 630 B.C. on the island of Lesbos in ancient Greece to an aristocratic family. She is said to have had a daughter named Cleis, but this is debated as well because some claim that Cleis may have been on of Sappho’s homosexual male lovers. It is suggested that Sappho was exiled from the island of Lesbos because of her infatuation for the same sex, or as a result of conflicts between Sappho’s family and some of the political elites on the island Sappho’s poetry is extremely well recognized today by scholars everywhere, but one of the biggest mysteries is her preferred sexual orientation. Many believe that she was a lesbian from Lesbos and that her poetry is mainly focused on her love and attraction for women. Others say that is only a misinterpretation of poems and that in fact, her poems are heterosexual in their content. I believe that her fragments of poems that are left behind today can be interpreted as her love for both male and female peers as in her poem “Eros Again!” When performing a figurative analysis on this poem, one can see how Sappho used three apparent figurative ideas in her poem—simile, personification and apostrophe to convey her idea.

            In Sappho’s’ poem “Eros Again!” one can see how her use of figurative speech is expressed clearly. One has to begin with understanding who and or what Eros is. Eros (whose name she calls upon with much intensity) is the Greek God of love or as the Romans called him—Cupid.  In the beginning of her poem, her very first words are “Eros Again!” (5). This figurative use of language is referred to as an apostrophe because she is calling upon someone who is not physically there. I believe she starts out by saying this o get the reader to understand a few different things. One thing is that she wants to make it clear that she is referring to love immediately because of her reference to Eros. Readers at the time would have known that she is referring to the God of love. Also by her using the word again, the reader would also know that this is not her first encounter with Eros and that she seems to be familiar with him. This also lets the reader know that she is not addressing another physical human because of Eros being a God. She is seemingly either upset with Eros for striking her to love someone again whether it is a man or a woman, or excited for another visit from Eros.  

  She goes on to use a simile to express her understanding of what she is experiencing. “He shook my mind like the mountain winds shake The Oaks!” (5). She tries to provide the reader with an idea of what she is feeling as a result of Eros’ visit to her. Using a simile is a perfect way to convey her feelings by relating to something familiar that reader themselves have experienced or at least know about. Using the word like clearly states that you are referencing what you are saying to something similar and/or something understandable for others. By saying her mind is like is shook like the mountain winds shake the oak trees provides the reader with something they can visualize and put into perspective. This allows them to understand what sort of feeling Sappho is experiencing at the time.  

            Another form of figurative language used in Sappho’s poem is personification. This one is a little harder to see at first compared to the other two figurative uses of language used in this poem, or one may argue that personification does not exist in this poem because it can be interpreted differently. Sappho says “like mountain winds shake The Oaks!” (5). She is giving the mountain winds the ability to shake something. Winds blow but they cannot physically grab something and shake them, but they can move things if the winds are blowing strong enough. This can also mean that the winds are shaking the Oaks because of the strong winds, but I read it as the winds have the physical ability to grab on to the oaks and shake them. Either way it is still a figurative poem that explains her state of mind and emotions well, which is why she is one of the canon of the great nine lyric poets of her era.