What Sappho Would Have Said: Four Centuries of Love Poems Between Women

by Emma Donoghue (Editor)

An unpredictable gathering of 110 women poets of all sexualities, writing for friends or for lovers, all in some way speaking of love between women. The anthology stretches from America to Ireland, from Scotland to Italy, from Canada to New Zealand, from the 1660s to the 1990s.

Genres: Poetry, Queer, LGBT, Nonfiction, Feminism, Anthologies, Lesbian

256 pages, Hardcover

First published April 24, 1997

About the author

Grew up in Ireland, 20s in England doing a PhD in eighteenth-century literature, since then in Canada. Best known for my novel, film and play ROOM, also other contemporary and historical novels and short stories, non-fiction, theatre and middle-grade novels.

Reviews

[Lydia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this over the course of several weeks and it was wonderful.
Every night I'd read a few poems before bed and it was the perfect end to a day. The poems range from the 17th century until the late 20th century, and they are all written by women to (or about) women. Sometimes about strong female friendships, sometimes about romantic/sexual love. It was a really comforting collection that really helps you feel less alone.
The introduction by Emma Donoghue was also really interesting and I frequently flipped back to it when I was reading the poems, in order to remind myself of Donoghue's words about that poet or poem.
There were a couple of poems that I didn't love, but I think that's to be expected with a collection like this. So overall it was just a truly lovely read.

[Deborah Pickstone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some lovely poetry about women's love for women - not exclusively lgbti but often about strong friendship bonds.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emma Donoghue is one of my favorite authors, so when I heard that she'd edited an anthology of wlw poetry, naturally I jumped at the opportunity to read it. It's a broad spectrum of poetry, from the mid-seventeenth century to modern-day poets. Some of the poems are boring, some are puzzling, some are so opaque I'm not sure why they were included, and some are just stunning, punches to the heart. The last group is numerous enough that I would recommend this book to anyone interested in wlw poetry.