Sappho: A New Translation of the Complete Works

by Diane J. Rayor (translator), André Lardinois (Editor)

Sappho, the earliest and most famous Greek woman poet, sang her songs around 600 BCE on the island of Lesbos. Of what survives from the approximately nine papyrus scrolls collected in antiquity, all is translated substantial poems and fragments, including three poems discovered in the last two decades. The power of Sappho's poetry ‒ her direct style, rich imagery, and passion ‒ is apparent even in these remnants. Diane Rayor's translations of Greek poetry are graceful, modern in diction yet faithful to the originals. Sappho's voice is heard in these poems about love, friendship, rivalry, and family. In the introduction and notes, André Lardinois plausibly reconstructs Sappho's life and work, the performance of her songs, and how these fragments survived. This second edition incorporates thirty-two more fragments primarily based on Camillo Neri's 2021 Greek edition and revisions of over seventy fragments.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Queer, Lesbian, Greece, LGBT, History

Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 601

About the author

Diane J. Rayor is Professor Emerita of Classics at Grand Valley State University, where she co-founded the Classics Department in 2000. Her second edition of Sappho: A New Translation of the Complete Works (Cambridge University Press, paperback Feb. 2023) includes more poems and an audio recording by Kate Reading. Rayor’s other book translations of ancient Greek poetry and drama include Euripides' 'Medea' (2013), Sophocles' 'Antigone' (2011), Homeric Hymns (California 2014), and Sappho's Lyre: Archaic Lyric and Women Poets of Ancient Greece (1991). Rayor was granted the Loeb Classical Library Foundation Fellowship for translating Euripides’ Helen and the University of Colorado’s Roe Green Visiting Theatre Artist for Euripides’ Hecuba. Her translations of Euripides’ Helen and Hecuba, under contract with Cambridge, will join Medea and Antigone—maybe next year? Her tragedy translations have been performed in Singapore, Australia, Canada, UK and US. She also assisted in the TEDEd production on the origin of the word “Lesbian”: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/ancient-gr...

Reviews

[Carmen]

This was great- I really appreciated all the context for where these fragments were found or were they were quoted. Lots of really good background information.

This is only my 2nd Sappho translation reading and I'm enjoying the differences. This translation seemed less poetic than Carson, so probably this is a more accurate translation and less arranged to be more poetic. I just like the different choices even if I didn't get as melancholy reading Rayor.

I especially liked this fragment's translation:

The Moon and Pleiades have set-
Half the night is gone.
I sleep alone.
Time passes.
(Sappho 168b, Rayor)

[Amanda Sapphie]

Pretty gay in my opinion (:

Sappho seems hilarious and I'm a fan. I wish so many of her works weren't lost

[Eva Helena]

Read for my class ‘western literature, texts and contexts’

The lesbian queen herself!! Forever love Sappho!!

This edition also gave a very interesting introduction that read quite nicely and fluently. I do think I would have remembered more of the notes if they had been placed right after each fragment instead of all together at the end of the book. They were quite interesting as well, though, I don’t think I ever actually knew much of the history behind Sappho’s fragments and now I do, so that’s nice. What’s less nice, and actually extremely sad, is that these fragments are all that remains. I would absolutely love to be able to read all Sappho had written instead of just little bits and pieces found in other sources.

PS: all the ‘see fragment’ ‘see notes’ ‘see introduction’ did very much annoy me, like just repeat it summarised or something because I don’t want to go flipping through the entire book the whole time.

[Lieze Doyen]

sappho zou nu een rapper zijn met haar one liners
[91]
'[I] never met anyone more irritating, Eirana, than you.'

read em queen!

[Renée De Coster]

"A handsome man is good to look at,
but a good man will be handsome as well."

- valid point from a Lesbian

[Steven Latour]

An excellent collection and translation of the many small pieces left of Sappho’s poetry. In some ways the collection is mostly heartbreaking because it shows only fragments, some being only a single word. The longer remainders are tantalizing parts that hint at what has been lost. There are notes concerning source material and interpretation.

[Floor Martinez]

(see introduction) (see fragment x) (see appendix) (see page x) omg STOOOOOOP ik las dit op een e-reader en kon niet zomaar terugbladeren :(

[Katie]

Oh my goddess this is divine!

"Golden crowned Aphrodite, may I draw this lot....
Stars around the beautiful moon
Hide away from their radiant form
Whenever in fullness she lights the earth....
Silvery....

you, either Cyprus, Paphos or Palermo....
I yearn and I desire."--Sappho

I love Sappho's poetry and I love this translation!
I also enjoyed the extra chapter at the beginning discussing a bit of history about her and her poetry. I had no idea, she at some point lived in Sicily! And there are extra notes at the back for even more information.

This book was put together by two professors-- One a professor of the classics and the other a professor of Language and Literature (Plus he is Greek too so you know the translation will be as accurate as possible).

This is a beautiful book of translated fragments of Sappho's poetry.

[Kara Jorgensen]

I didn't quite realize HOW fragmented Sappho's poetry was. This is an interesting collection that gives context to the fragments and how much we don't know about Sappho and the background of poetry attributed to her.

[maité]

4.5 ⭐ – I loved this collection of sappho's works!! especially with the context the authors gave. I would've loved to see some of the actual old Greek in the book too though, it would've been really cool.

[linda]

barring some bullshitting in the introduction it was alright

[Mariana Bonina]

This book made me cry, not because Sappho’s writing is so beautiful and important for history but because of the sheer amount of missing verses, I’m not kidding when I say most of the fragments were single words. Apart from that it was pretty cool, the introduction felt like it was written by chatgpt but the few fragments that were coherent were really beautiful. I hope one day I can enjoy reading these in their original language.

[Caitlin]

I love this translation of Sappho’s works. I love how they set up the poems and I love the notes on the translations in the back as well.

I originally got this through the library but quickly realized I needed to own this addition. It’s one I will come back to often.

Her work is beautiful, even in the incompleteness of it all.

[Jayme]

4.5 out of 5 and the reason is because I felt the notes should have been included as footnotes rather than a notes section at the back of the book. Flipping constantly between the translations and the notes was annoying and there could have been a little more detail to some of the notes as well. Overall a great translation though and it’s nice to have the fragments all in one place.

[a]

LET'S GO LESBIANS LET'S GO


I will gladly return to this book, re-reading the fragments and thinking about their meaning. The fully translated poems/fragments are beautiful, but I loved seeing that even the single translated lines, the small specks of her lost work have some meaning behind them.

[Sydney Strange]

"I love you as long as breath is in me."

[Leni]

Date-idé: Lese erodert lesbisk lyrikk og råkline?

[Sunday]

Written over two thousand years ago, Sappho's poetry resonates.

[Reveal] the beautiful gifts of the violet-robed Muses, girls,
[dancing to] the song-loving [voice] of the sweet-toned lyres.

My skin was [delicate] before, but now old age
[claims it]; my hair turned from black [to white].

My spirit has grown heavy; knees buckly
that once would dance light as fawns.

I often groan, but what can I do?
It's impossible for humans not to age.

Read as part of The World in Books: A Year of Reading-Wisely journey (which will take me multiple years ;).

[Kendall]

super fun collection of poems from the most lesbian to ever exist

"sweet mother, I cannot weave --
slender Aphrodite has overcome me
with longing for a girl"

yeah pack it up

[Destinie Vidrio]

Sappho the original Chappell Roan

[Joe]

A fantastic collection of scholarly and popular appeal. The translations are brilliant finished products (I must simply trust their veracity). Sappho has very little extant verse, and the vast majority of it is either fragmentary or else only attested. I expected the fragments to be of little interest, solely there for the historical record, but the commentary helped bring together their connections to Grecian society, their bearing on scholarship (the speaker, the audience, etc.), and their meaning. Several poems were funny; others still were familiar in their classical hyperbole; some of the more complete ones will stay with me. The ode to Aphrodite is by far the most famous but not my favorite.

I only wish there were more. Why not include the attested fragments? Excluding dozens of potential Sapphos seems unnecessary when one can warn against too strongly attributing them, especially when already included are a few potentially due to Alkaios. What’s more, additional context could have opened this up more to a broader audience. As it stands, this is really only for professionals and those like me who have at least read a lot of original Greek works to have broad familiarity with myth and practices, at least enough to pick up on the blatant references without having to research everything. The professional-first attitude is fine and is exemplified by the structure of introduction-Sapphos-notes (rather than providing notes beside the poems), but I feel it was a missed opportunity to stretch a bit and add more about the society Sapphos belonged to and perhaps even some (clearly delineated!) speculation about where Sapphos might have fit into that world.

Still, I’m glad I picked this up from my university library display shelf on a whim. I knew barely the name Sapphos before this, and now I have some appreciation for why she was so revered by the ancients.

[Knitography]

Reading Sappho, it’s impossible not to feel a level of disappointment that so little of her work remains to us, and that so much of what we do have is mere fragments (in many cases, a single word). What we do have is at turns evocative and moving, (fragment 37, “in the dripping of my pain”) or sly and amusing (as in fragment 57 when Sappho says of a rival that she’s “too ignorant to cover her ankles with her rags” - Sappho had the capacity to be a bit of a mean girl!).

Her description of love as a “loosener of limbs” (fragment 130) is reminiscent of Homer’s use of the phrase “unstrung his limbs” to describe death in the Iliad; the comparison of love to death is more explicit in fragment 31 when Sappho says “To myself I seem / needing but little to die”.

Even the incomplete fragments sometimes read as poetic, as in fragment 130:

“As when…

before...
light…
all…
like honey…

Still…”

The introduction does an excellent job of summarising what we do and do not know about Sappho and her life, while also providing insight into the time and place in which she lived (which is essential to understanding Sappho’s work). It’s clear from the translator’s notes that translating Sappho has been a long time labour of love for Diane Rayor, and I appreciated the insight she provided into her approach to the translation. Lastly, the notes are informative, providing both the provenance of the fragments along with additional commentary (where possible - there’s not much one can say about fragments of just one word).

[Heaven Ashlee]

I read both “Sappho” by Diane J Rayor and “If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho” by Anne Carson at the same time. Literally. It’d switch line or stanza by stanza and then reread each in full afterward. I read the intros for both, but did not dive into the detailed notes. I was reading purely to experience Sappho for the first time in my life, and to see what the fuss was about, to see if words from thousands of years ago can still resonate. And they did.

I have to say, I enjoyed Carson’s translations more from a purely moving standpoint. Her word choices felt lyrical and moved me in a way that almost all of Rayor’s did not. Obviously I do not read Greek and definitely don’t understand Ancient Greek, but I also really enjoyed having the Greek next to the works in Carson’s translation, it definitely helped me feel more connected to the words. I enjoyed reading more of the process and history behind Rayor’s edition, it gave me a little more insight into the works of Sappho than Carson’s did. Because I preferred Carson’s, I didn’t find the newer findings/fragments in Rayor’s work all that more engaging even though I knew they were *new*.

All in all, I’m happy to say I have read both of these titles and that I have read Sappho’s words now. There are a number of them that I have taken photos of to keep and revisit because they resonated with me so much…all these thousands of years later.

[mishka]

The work of Sappho, as well as that of the translator and editor of this collection, is invaluable not only to lovers of literature and classics but to the queer community as well. It's important to not simply use words named for her (lesbian, sapphic) in ignorance, but to put her work to heart. Queers like myself should immerse themselves in the beautiful songs she wrote, if for no reason other than the fact that it would make her, as well as her beloved goddess Aphrodite, smile.

Seeing that Sappho, too, experienced the heartache of falling for someone of the same sex who (perhaps) didn't return the attraction, instead clinging to the arm of a man who seems uninterested in her 'sweet speaking [voice]' and '[tempting] laughter' (fr. 31, pg 50) is especially interesting, and cemented my favourite poem in the collection. Sorry Sappho, she's a het! You'd better find another lady, my friend.

This translation, as well as the notes accompanying it, are great. I would recommend this book (in its second edition, as of now, but of course any updated version in the future would no doubt be better to read). Sit back, pour yourself some "ambrosia" (a drink of your choice; I chose herbal tea), and enjoy the work of an everlasting trailblazer of beautiful queer poetry.

[Steve]

There are so many fragments in her complete works I at first wondered how she had attained such a great reputation. But even the fragments stand out - a word or two here and there which shows her talent, even in incompletion.
This is not a bilingual edition, its only shortcoming (the Anne Carson is, which I may get to some other time in the future).
Diane Raynor is the translator. But the Introduction and voluminous Notes (Notes take up as many pages as the actual texts!) is by Andre Lardinois. Which can be confusing at times, since he writes about the selection process in both. I wish there was a co-authored Preface to the book, providing us with details on how the collaboration worked. The selection of poems to include, and the translation of questionable lines. Also included is a very detailed Bibliography (even if they call it "Select"). Cambridge U Press - so we know it is good, and academic.
And then the poems/songs! Very few, if any, are complete. Who knew reading a few words from a few lines of a longer poem could be so gratifying.
4.5 out of 5.

[Shannon]

Going into this book I didn't know much about Sappho: ancient Greek, lesbian icon was about it. I had seen her poems around and liked them enough to where I thought I would enjoy a whole book of her poetry.

Well let me tell the uninitiated, most of what we know as Sappho has been curated, created out of fragments or single lines of poetry. The writing about her is very thorough, the authors give historical context, and notes on the fragments.

This book is more a textbook or history of Sappho and less an actual book of poetry. It is so sad to see how little remains of her work, but interesting to see how we've created this poetry, and still call it Sappho, when it is more our interpretation of what had been there and what we've lost.

[Sanjana]

**4.5 stars**

“… [I pray] …… [may] there now be festivity.… [may I rest] below the earth… rightly holding the prize of worth.[May they still marvel] as now when I live… sweet-toned, when I play the lyre… beautiful things, O Muse, I sing. “ - pre-58 Cologne

Her dream came true and now she’s known throughout the ages for her beautiful poetry despite its fragmentary state :’) It was so fun to read this and imagine her diverse audience of women & men alike, the political context of Lesbos, and even her lyre strumming along to these songs.

This book is a great compilation of the updated 2014 sources and older sources, however, the notes end up being “refer to x” and “see fragment x for more details” which makes some of the commentary redundant at times.

All in all though, a wonderful introduction to Sappho with great further readings that I will definitely look into.

[Karlina]

The transparency in the beginning of this book, in terms of what actual sources are available on Sappho (or Psappho) and the kind of misinformation/misattribution that has happened throughout millennia is good to see :) much better than half assed assumptions and interpretations
But that means there was less about Sappho (or Psappho) than I wanted X) even just having more historical context explained or more exploration of the things the author mentions are more concrete about her would be grand!
Either way, her poetry really does transcend time. Even through the fragments and the translation her words are less descriptions, than they are experiences. Very lovely to read :))

[Seolhe]

Undeniably the most up-to-date collection of the works of Sappho, published just earlier this year.
I can't speak too much about Rayor's translation, but I really appreciate both the introduction and the extensive notes on each of the fragments that goes along with this collection.

Now, how do I even rate this?
Sappho's poetry, what little remains of it, is beautiful, but it's also so fragmented, sometimes down to nothing more than single words, and what do you even do with that?
I don't really have an answer to that I'm afraid.

[Oranssin Kirjo]

Reviewing Sappho’s work is no easy feat. It isn’t only that classics usually resist simple critique, but also that the fragmentary nature of her surviving poetry makes any attempt at reviewing elusive. What is there to review when hardly a single poem survives intact, save for a precious few?

What little remains is the elegance of absence. Each missing line or stanza becomes an invitation, forcing the reader to participate in the poetic act. Perhaps it is this forced exercise in imagination that makes Sappho so intriguing. It is, in some strange and tender way, an act of resurrection👌