150 years after Homer's Iliad, Sappho lived on the island of Lesbos, west off the coast of Turkey. Little remains of her writings, which are said to have filled nine papyrus rolls in the great library at Alexandria some 500 years after her death. This title covers this surviving texts that consists of fragmented body of lyric poetry.
For the first time in Penguin Classics-the incomparable verse of the ancient Greek lyric poet Sappho, in a brilliant new translation
Sapho's writings are said to have filled nine papyrus rolls in the great library at Alexandria, but only one poem survives complete. This new translation of all of Sappho's extant poetry showcases the wide variety of themes in her work, from amorous songs celebrating adolescent females to poems of invocation, desire, spite, celebration, resignation, and remembrance. Aaron Poochigian captures the eros and mystery of Sappho's verse, bringing to readers of English the living voice of the poet Plato called "the tenth Muse," whose lyric power remains undiminished after 2,500 years.
