Sappho and Phaon

by Mary Robinson

It must strike every admirer of poetical compositions, that the modern sonnet, concluding with two lines, winding up the sentiment of the whole, confines the poet’s fancy, and frequently occasions an abrupt termination of a beautiful and interesting picture; and that the ancient, or what is generally denominated, the Legitimate Sonnet, may be carried on in a series of sketches, composing, in parts, one historical or imaginary subject, and forming in the whole a complete and connected story. With this idea, I have ventured to compose the following collection; not presuming to offer them as imitations of Petrarch, but as specimens of that species of sonnet writing, so seldom attempted in the English language; though adopted by that sublime Bard, whose Muse produced the grand epic of Paradise Lost, and the humbler effusion, which I produce as an example of the measure to which I allude, and which is termed by the most classical writers, the legitimate sonnet. O Nightingale, that on yon bloomy spray Warblest at eve, when all the woods are still, Thou with fresh hope the lover’s heart dost fill, While the jolly hours lead on propitious May. Thy liquid notes that close the eye of day First heard before the shallow cuccoo’s bill, Portend succes in love; O if Jove’s will Have link’d that amorous power to thy soft lay, Now timely sing, ere the rude bird of hate Foretel my hopeless doom in some grove nigh, As thou from year to year hast sung too late For my relief, yet hadst no reason why: Whether the Muse, or Love call thee his mate, Both them I serve, and of their train am I.

Genres: Poetry, Read For School, Classics, British Literature

42 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1794

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Mary Robinson, nee Darby (1757-1800) was an English poet and novelist. During her lifetime she was known as 'the English Sappho'. She was also known for her role as Perdita (heroine of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale) in 1779 and as the first public mistress of George IV. After seeing her as Perdita, and declaring himself enraptured with her, the Prince of Wales, offered Mary Robinson twenty thousand pounds to become his mistress. However, he soon tired of her and abandoned her after a year, refusing to pay the money. Her reputation was destroyed by the affair, and she could no longer find work as an actress. Eventually, the Crown agreed to pay Robinson five thousand pounds, in return for the Prince's love letters to her. In 1783, at the age of 26, Robinson suffered a mysterious illness that left her partially paralyzed. From the late 1780s, she became distinguished for her poetry. In addition to poems, she wrote six novels, two plays, a feminist treatise, and an autobiographical manuscript that was incomplete at the time of her death.

Reviews

[Shawn Enright · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t like this poem but I know that it’s great and complex and worth reading — so I should give it its due rating. But I don’t like it. (In other words, I feel the same about quinoa as I do this poem: It’s good for me, but I prefer other things that are good for me, like brown rice, broccoli, or Tennyson).

I want to spend more time with Shakespearean sonnets to really understand why they are amazing, then revisit Robinson’s to compare and contrast. Post-grad maybe.

[Anneena · Rating 3 out of 5]

hmm, I'm not quite sure what to say about this. I read this as part of my english lit course on romanticism and feminism. I wouldn't say I loved the poetry, and its certainly not the best I've read, but I did enjoy it. On a surface level it seems like a story of painful and bitter unrequited love - who am I kidding. On all levels its pained, choking romantic yearning against the backdrop of nature and the gods and everything else you'd imagine about a set of poems constructed in the late 18th century. For my analysis of this poem, I've been attempting to consider the nature of 'desire' in this series, and the apparently self-destructive qualities of romance and sensibility that Robinson practically shoves down your throat. I felt almost obliged to consider this a 'feminist' text for its representation of female desire, but really it seemed like an attempt to stifle sensibility and praise 'reason' instead.

Now I know what you're thinking. How does a book about desire and female sexuality become anti-feminist or anti-sensibility? Quite easily it seems. I felt that Mary Robinson purposefully separated herself as the poet, from Sappho - the character. As if to say this was Sappho's downfall, being a romantic. And I have not made the same mistakes of choosing sensibility over rationality . I can understand how in its time, it may have been considered radical and a pioneering feminist text, but today it's just another example of women belittling women

Okay but not really my thing.

[Anja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just going to leave some of my favourite lines here to speak for themselves:

'The steps of spotless marble, scatter'd o'er/With deathless roses arm'd with many a thorn/Lead to the altar. On the frozen floor' - II

'Is it [love] to loathe the light, and wish to die?' - VI

'Dang'rous to hear, is that melodious tongue,/And fatal to the sense those murd'rous eyes' - X

'Soon, shall another clasp the beateous boy;/[...] The bee flies sicken'd from the sweetest flow'r;/The lightning's shaft, but dazzles to destroy' - XXXII

[abby murrill · Rating 3 out of 5]

ROMANTICISM. im so confused

[Alex Vardill · Rating 4 out of 5]

loses points for the distinct lack of sapphism

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dear me, I read this nauseating collection of flowery driblets which are *based on* Sappho's fragments, thinking they were Sappho's poems too, that makes two pretenders to Sappho that I've read, thanks to wholly inadequate descriptions at the iTunes store.

Apparently Mary Robinson, nee Darby (1757-1800) was an English poet and novelist and during her lifetime she was known as the English Sappho. Poor Sappho, to be so cruelly debased!

Moral: stick to real books publisher by real publishers who describe their contents accurately so that you know what you're getting.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was read as part of one of my Lit subjects at uni, but poetry and I have a history of mutual dislike. As important and as radical (to her contemporaries, at least) her later writings were, I think perhaps that I'm more interested in her unbelievable life and the experiences she had.