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Sappho
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 19, 2024
Eternal and wonderful. Read these poems the same way you’d look out to the horizon from the beach.
April 26, 2026
Not as gay as promised, still very good
September 8, 2024
“Sleep, darling. I have a small daughter called Cleis who is like a golden flower. I wouldn’t take all of Croesus’ kingdom with love thrown in, for her.”– Sappho
It’s poems like this that preserves and resurrects the intimate emotions and experiences of those who lived thousands of years before us.
It’s poems like this that preserves and resurrects the intimate emotions and experiences of those who lived thousands of years before us.
August 13, 2026
“Sappho: A New Translation” by Mary Barnard (1958) 🏆
100 Pages — Among My Most Beloved Treasures!
Extraordinary translation of Greek Sappho’s available poems, fragments, joys, and frustrations — a Beloved Celebrity 2,600 years ago, from the island of Lesbos.
Sappho’s range is vast: she wrote songs of love, lust, flower garlands, purple and yellow tunics, marriage, music, her beloved daughter, the sun, stars, and moon, aging — and feuds with competitors. This poetry — sung in accompaniment to her “heavenly tortoise shell”, a lyre — is lyrical magic.
Having devoured numerous translations and critiques of Sappho’s words, work, and play — I promise that Mary Barnard’s exquisite renderings across time and space bring us what it feels Sappho would have valued most.
Don’t miss the fantastic Foreword by Dudley Fitts: I suggest reading it both before AND after perusing the text, for your most richly nourishing feast. Take your time. Ditto Mary Barnard’s matchless Footnote. Sappho knows what matters most:
“The finest sight on dark earth….
I say that
whatever one loves, is…”
Sappho nails this perfectly, missing desperately a great love who had moved to Sardis.
_________________
If you’re curious — Sardis is not Sardinia: it’s an entirely separate place. Sardis was not located in Greece (as the island of Lesbos is) — but was in western Anatolia (modern-day Turkey).
Sappho: 630-570 BCE
100 Pages — Among My Most Beloved Treasures!
Extraordinary translation of Greek Sappho’s available poems, fragments, joys, and frustrations — a Beloved Celebrity 2,600 years ago, from the island of Lesbos.
Sappho’s range is vast: she wrote songs of love, lust, flower garlands, purple and yellow tunics, marriage, music, her beloved daughter, the sun, stars, and moon, aging — and feuds with competitors. This poetry — sung in accompaniment to her “heavenly tortoise shell”, a lyre — is lyrical magic.
Having devoured numerous translations and critiques of Sappho’s words, work, and play — I promise that Mary Barnard’s exquisite renderings across time and space bring us what it feels Sappho would have valued most.
Don’t miss the fantastic Foreword by Dudley Fitts: I suggest reading it both before AND after perusing the text, for your most richly nourishing feast. Take your time. Ditto Mary Barnard’s matchless Footnote. Sappho knows what matters most:
“The finest sight on dark earth….
I say that
whatever one loves, is…”
Sappho nails this perfectly, missing desperately a great love who had moved to Sardis.
_________________
If you’re curious — Sardis is not Sardinia: it’s an entirely separate place. Sardis was not located in Greece (as the island of Lesbos is) — but was in western Anatolia (modern-day Turkey).
Sappho: 630-570 BCE
January 25, 2025
I liked how Barnard really made the poems her own. I could only truly appreciate this and let go of any potential frustration because we have so many other translations available.
By adding titles for instance, she completely adds another layer to the poems, which I sometimes thoughts leant itself really well to the poem, sometimes I felt was too unsubtle and maybe even jarring. Regardless, in her work as a translator, she took control of the formatting, presentation, and overarching themes; all are bold choices and I really liked that she fully embraced it.
By adding titles for instance, she completely adds another layer to the poems, which I sometimes thoughts leant itself really well to the poem, sometimes I felt was too unsubtle and maybe even jarring. Regardless, in her work as a translator, she took control of the formatting, presentation, and overarching themes; all are bold choices and I really liked that she fully embraced it.
December 2, 2023
3.5
Its my first time reading poems so emm idk much yet, might re-read after i've learn more of them
Its my first time reading poems so emm idk much yet, might re-read after i've learn more of them
August 12, 2025
Insanely prescient. I definitely recommend this translation for anyone curious about sappho
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews