LGBTQ+ Poet of the Month: Sappho

Daniel Torres (he/him)

Sappho (also occasionally spelled Psappho or Sapphus) is recognized as one of the most influential lyrical poets of both her period and all time, having been referred to as “the tenth Muse” by Plato himself. It’s well known that she is often portrayed as one of history’s most iconic lesbian figures. The term “lesbian” itself is a derivative of the name of her birth island, Lesbos, just as the adjective “sapphic” is a direct play on her name.

The painting “Sappho and Erina in the Garden Mytelene” by Simeon Solomon depicts the two provocatively embraced women surrounded by a beautiful scene of nature. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Historians have long contested her sexual orientation, however, and her having been born around 615 B.C certainly has made enlightening the situation complicated. So, what is the definitive conclusion? Was Sappho the hedonistic, sensual, (and potentially over-sexualized) lesbian that some historians have painted her out to be? Or did the naive, queer-blind historians actually get it right for once in assuming Sappho’s emotional poems were simply about a “good friend?” The short answer: we don’t know for sure. The long answer: it’s complicated--let’s get into it.

Here’s what we know:

• Sappho was and always has been controversial. Though she received much deserved praise for her style and innovation in poetry, she was described as having loose morals even during her time. Far past her lifetime, she was declared as overly scandalous. In fact, one Christian theologian described her as “a sex-crazed whore who screams of her own wantonness.” That, it’s safe to say, might be taking it a bit too far . . .
  
• Some sources claim Sappho had a husband named Cercylas and a daughter named Cleis, though this is contested since many can only trace mentions of these people to parody works originating centuries after Sappho’s life. Regardless, her alleged marraige to a man would not have excluded her from being bisexual or lesbian, seeing as how it very well could have been purely a societally-conforming facade.
  
• Sappho’s style and themes always revolved around love, whether lesbian or not. Her school for unmarried young women dedicated itself to the cult of Aphrodite and Eros, two Greek gods whose stories formed the backbone of the Ancient Greek’s perception of all things love, romance, and passion.
  
• There is much to be said concerning the harm that can arise from historians explaining away Sappho’s potential lesbian status. The erasure of queer voices from history is, regrettably, a recurring theme that strips queer individuals from the right to learn about their historical representation. Sappho, undoubtedly, was a radical figure during and long after her time due to her success as a female poet--it isn’t hard to imagine, therefore, that the additional layer of her potential queer orientation would have posed a threat to the “status quo” that historians all too often seek to preserve.
  
• Regardless of her sexual orientation, Sappho was an incredible poet. Her work was described as “sublime,” rich with emotion and melodrama. Queer or not, Sappho succeeded as a female poet to such a degree that her pieces, though most are incomplete and fragmented due to the passing of time, are still studied to this day thousands of years later. Her most complete poem, printed below, is a prime example of her stylistic drama.
  

Glittering-Minded, Deathless Aphrodite
by Sappho
Glittering-Minded deathless Aphrodite,
I beg you, Zeus’s daughter, weaver of snares, 
Don’t shatter my heart with fierce
Pain, goddess,
But come now, if ever before
You heard my voice, far off, and listened,
And left your father’s golden house,
And came,
Yoking your chariot. Lovely the swift
Sparrows that brought you over black earth
A whirring of wings through mid-air
Down the sky.
They came. And you, sacred one,
Smiling with deathless face, asking
What now, while I suffer: why now
I cry out to you, again:
What now I desire above all in my
Mad heart. ’Whom now, shall I persuade
To admit you again to her love,
Sappho, who wrongs you now?
If she runs now she’ll follow later,
If she refuses gifts she’ll give them.
If she loves not, now, she’ll soon
Love against her will.’
Come to me now, then, free me
From aching care, and win me
All my heart longs to win. You,
Be my friend.

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