The Pocket Sappho

by Willis Barnstone

A vivid, contemporary translation of the greatest Greek love poet by the prize-winning poet and translator.

Sappho’s lyric love poems, composed in the seventh century B.C.E., transcend time and place and continue to enchant readers today. Though her extant work consists only of a collection of fragments and a handful of complete poems, the passionate elegance of her musings on life and death, loss and longing, desire, and nature speak volumes.
Willis Barnstone’s vivid, contemporary translation, along with his introduction and notes, sheds new light on the spirit and mystique of this ancient Greek poet.

This edition is an abridgment of The Complete Poems of Sappho .

Genres: Poetry, Classics, LGBT, Lesbian, Romance, Gay, Queer

216 pages, Paperback

Published July 23, 2019

About the author

Willis Barnstone is an American poet, memoirist, translator, Hispanist, and comparatist. He has translated the Ancient Greek poets and the complete fragments of the pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus. He is also a New Testament and Gnostic scholar.

Reviews

[galpalkirk]

the heterosexual translation of fragment 102 was a crime committed against me personally

[Dani Winkler · Rating 5 out of 5]

From fragment 45:

I shall
As long as you want to

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Someone, I tell you, in another time,
Will remember us.

This book is exactly what it says it is, the pocket Sappho. As someone who has never read Sappho before, I can’t think of a better way to start. I found the introduction well written and highly informative for someone coming into this anthology with minimal prior knowledge.

The introduction, albeit fairly briefly, described some of the wrought history of Sappho and although I’m positive I can find longer and more detailed descriptions of our knowledge of Sappho, her works and the history of her poems, this was a great overview of the fundamentals of the history which placed the poems in their context.

I am longing to read more.

[Macey · Rating 4 out of 5]

the poetry was pretty cool actually, considering it's thousands of years old and literally disintegrated. poetry usually melts my brain by being too symbolic and metaphorical but this didn't so that helps. there's something quite artistic in how the actual physical copies of the poems have disintegrated so the whole poem reads just

'Don't madden
my mind'

'I long and yearn for'

'Suddenly
Dawn in gold sandals'

'To Eros-
you burn us'

'Nor
desire
but together
desire
a flower
I was happy'

It sort of makes it more interesting that we have to guess what she wrote after that.

[Ancukins · Rating 5 out of 5]

sapphic. the world has been cursed by the loss of her fragments.
would've liked more poems and less introduction.

[Rine Bekkelund · Rating 5 out of 5]

Det er sjeldent at Glossary er den mest spennende delen av en bok. Fantastisk forord, dikt og Glossary. Oversiktlig og lærerikt. Virkelig veldig spennende å lese om Sappho!!

[Marie Kos · Rating 4 out of 5]

A worthy investment even if learning about the translation choices gives me pause!

I actually enjoyed the foreword.

[Cass · Rating 5 out of 5]

“for praying
this word:
i want”

kill me

[zoe]

“Someone, I tell you, in another time will remember us” 🫶

[Ioana · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Kypros-born one
blamed me
for praying
this word:
I want"

I don't know what's more mesmerizing: the way Sappho's work reached us, its collision with the world - trying to confine it to prejudices of certain times, or the timelessness and enchantment of the verses. A joy to read and to re-read her words.

[Claire Teets · Rating 3 out of 5]

the introduction is definitely long and may seem daunting to many readers but it is definitely incredibly useful! just love reading obviously sapphic poetry and knowing that people tried to disprove that sappho was a lesbian

[Rita Sofia · Rating 5 out of 5]

we know que eu não sou grande fã de poesia mas só pode ser 5 estrelas para a mulher que deu nome às lésbicas. obrigada sappho

[katiemango]

I wasn’t obsessed with this translation, I feel like in the scheme of Sappho it’s a bit cold?! But I love these poems, just 3 words capture grief and joy and angst and mystery and wonder felt across thousands of years 🤍

[regina ferarri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Happy pride month

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

catching up on my reading goal lets go!!!!

[Lanell Gardiner · Rating 5 out of 5]

"When she left me she wept profusely and told me, "Oh how we've suffered in all this. Psapfo, I swear I go unwillingly."

"Don't madden my mind"

"I cannot imagine in the future any girl who looks on the light of the sun who will have your skill and wisdom."

"Someone, I tell you, in another time, will remember us."

Sappho seems to have always been in love.
I absolutely adore this woman. And it's fucking weird to me to think of scholars sitting down and meticulously combing over her poems for analysis when,,,,,you literally just read it and vibe and relate and feel?

I loved all of the poems but some of my favorites were
Time of Youth; Seizure; Eros; To A Friend Gone, Remember; Return, Gongyla; As Long As There Is Breath; Abuse; Madden; Light; Face; No Oblivion; and To Hermis Who Guides The Dead.

My only complaint; it wasn't long enough. :|

[Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

wish there were more poems and less foreword

[Adam Carrico · Rating 5 out of 5]

Come holy lyre, speak to me and become a voice!

[Audrey G · Rating 5 out of 5]

bury me with this thanks

[Lynn wilcox · Rating 5 out of 5]

sappho’s “friends”…
devastating that so much of her work was lost

[NR · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
(rating is for the book itself, not for sappho's poetry)
Yeah, cool! I'd read Sappho before (queers will do queer things) and I really enjoyed all the fragments I could get.. I even (spoiler for my lore) memorized a poem of hers and quoted it to my ex (in this book Barnstone calls it "To a friend gone, remember", I believed it was the fragments of Atthis). So I was interested to read the 50+ pages of explanation about Sappho's history and poetry that this book offered. Still, I found the discussion lacking in actual content; it was a lot of opinion from someone who isn't even a woman (I'm allowed to say this because I thought Willis was a girl's name, believed I was reading from a lesbian author, then was proved wrong) — of course, I liked the opinion, I was happy to see a historian (?) tell the facts (what I believe are facts, aka opinions, but that's fine).. but I don't know. Maybe I should've read the original translations of Sappho book from which these fragments came. I did go and look at the versions of Sappho I'd read earlier and noted that the translation varied quite a bit, which always interests and slightly annoys me. From this translated collection, though, I selected quite a few lines and poems that I liked...

LINES
pg3 "you ask me what i am suffering / and why i call you, / what i most want to happen / in my crazy heart."
pg13 "eros, loosener of limbs, never comes near her"
pg29 "in grear spirit / charioteers / moved like gods / holy all together / ... / godlike Hektor"
pg34 "you the bride are a form of grace, / your eyes honey. / desire rains on your exquisite face."
pg42 "and i would rather see her supple step / and motion of light on her face / than chariots of the Lydians or ranks / of foot soldiers in bronze."
pg49 "[endure] i want / to hang on / she said"
pg57 "the kypros-born once / blamed me / for praying / this word: / i want"
pg60 "lucent dew pours out profusely / on blooming roses, / on frail starflowers and florid honey clover. / but wandering back and forth she remembers / gentle Atthis and for your pain / a heavy yearning consumes her"
pg62 "i shall enter desire"
pg109 "i swear i take no pleasure / in being on the earth / but a longing seizes me to die / and see the dewy / lotus banks of the Aheron"

POEMS/FRAGMENTS
- Dancers at a Kritan Altar (pg6)
- Death of Adonis (pg10)
- Cicada (pg18)
- Dawn (pg20)
- Hair Yellower than Torch Flame (pg23)
- Wildflowers (pg25)
- Remorse (pg26)
- Song to the Groom (pg30)
- Hermis at a Wedding (pg32)
- A guard outside the bridal chamber, who keeps the bride's friends from rescuing her (pg35)
- Seizure (pg39)
- Alone (pg40)
- To Eros | Absence | Goatherd (pg44)
- Homecoming (pg46)
- To a friend gone, remember (pg53)
- Atthis (pg55)
- Paralysis (pg63)
- Behind a Laurel Tree (pg64)
- As Long as there is breath (pg66)
- Abuse (pg71)
- Gorgo (pg72)
- Where am I? (pg73)
- Andromeda, what now? (pg74)
- In my pain (pg76)
- Doriha (pg81)
- On going bareheaded (pg94)
- Dawn with gold arms | Sleep | Black Sleep (pg99)
- Age and the Bed (pg111)
- Afroditi to Psapfo (pg112)
- Death is Evil (pg117)
- On Timas (pg121, Diehl)

P.S., did Barnstone title these poems (in which case, why? and more importantly, how?) or did Sappho (really?)? Interesting technique...

[Sophie Corsaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

something about reading sapphic poetry that was written centuries ago is so special to me. while many of her poems are now just fragments because so much has been lost over time, there is so much beauty is the stability of human emotion especially women loving and yearning for other women. lots of good information about the her life and work which I enjoyed learning about as well!

[Sunny Stier-Wood]

historiography is such a silly sick joke- they spent millennia creating convoluted theories on why Sappho wasn't gay when the reality was so simple.

"someone, I tell you, in another time
will remember us"

and we did, we finally did!!!

[Kailey Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great, easy intro to Sappho’s poetry with an amazing introduction by Barnstone. Really well done and put together. Excited to read more analyses of her work and delve into even more, as this collection is abridged!

[rin]

why translate one of sappho's most well known poems (at least well known in lesbian circles) as heterosexual

[Rebecca Jane]

I liked this a lot, I just don’t want to rate fragments.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful

[Maddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

very gay. I liked it

[Alice Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

[mal h · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved this. really beautiful imagery and surprisingly applicable (in some ways) to modern life and interpersonal relationships. totally drafting up a tattoo idea for "Doves Playing Dead"