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The Sappho Companion
Born around 630 BC on the Greek Island of Lesbos, Sappho is the greatest lyrical poet of Greece, and one of the greatist artists of any age. Her poems exist only as fragments, and her life is not much more than speculation, but Sappho's pull-as writer, voice, and image-affects every era. Ovid, Baudelaire,and Jeanette Winterson are just a few of the writers who, each generation, claim Sappho as their own. Who is Sappho? Lesbian, mother poet, lover, suicide warning, and icon. In this innovative blend of personal reflection and cultural history Margaret Reynolds illuminates Sappho's genius, her life, her sexuality, and the extraordinary influence she has had across centuries. Built on key themes, this book features a rich offering of poems, plays, essays, and stories by leading writers that bring Sappho's legacy to life.
Hardcover
First published January 4, 2000
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About the author
Margaret Reynolds
38 books8 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.
Margaret Reynolds is Professor of English and Modern Culture whose work explores nineteenth to twenty-first century literature, poetry, and the transmission of classical texts. Educated at Oxford and London, her edition of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Aurora Leigh won the British Academy’s Rose Mary Crawshay Prize. She co-edited Victorian Women Poets, authored The Sappho Companion, The Sappho History, and edited Adam Bede for Penguin. A writer and broadcaster for the BBC, The Guardian, and The Times, she also published the memoir The Wild Track in 2021.
Margaret Reynolds is Professor of English and Modern Culture whose work explores nineteenth to twenty-first century literature, poetry, and the transmission of classical texts. Educated at Oxford and London, her edition of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Aurora Leigh won the British Academy’s Rose Mary Crawshay Prize. She co-edited Victorian Women Poets, authored The Sappho Companion, The Sappho History, and edited Adam Bede for Penguin. A writer and broadcaster for the BBC, The Guardian, and The Times, she also published the memoir The Wild Track in 2021.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 30, 2014
This was a disappointing read, which is unfortunate as the premise caught me ten + years ago when I first received it as a gift. Overall, it’s poorly organized. There isn’t much background provided on [what is known about] Sappho before the editor leads you to a section of translations of her work, as well as some poems by famous poets like William Carlos Williams that are supposedly influenced by Sappho. But without a background on Sappho’s poems, Ancient Greek language, or the history of the fragments, it’s hard to understand the importance of the non-Sappho poems she includes. Is that William Carlos Williams poem actually influenced by the Sappho fragment you just quoted? I don’t know - it depends on the person who translated the poem. There is no introduction provided for any of the poems – it’s simply a list of poems and translations of Sappho, one after the next. There is no context or explanation for its inclusion, or helpful point made by the editor, such as “notice these similarities” or “this is a super famous Sappho fragment.” Sometimes, it’s even confusing as to whether or not you’re reading a translation of a fragment, an original poem by another author, or comparisons of translations of a single fragment, side by side.
Years ago, I hoped this was just a first chapter problem, but it actually continues throughout the whole book. There are many excerpts from plays and poems with no meaningful context. Sappho is more of a mystery than ever. Sadly, I think that Reynolds was trying to express to readers the unknowable aspect of Sappho with the layout of her book. That’s a clever idea. But try reading it, and it’s just a mess.
Having finished this, I’m looking forward to hopping back into Anne Carson’s translations of Sappho, which, according to the book description, come with “brackets and white space to denote missing text – allowing the reader to imagine the poems as they were written.” This is exciting to me, as I’m very interested in forsaking poetry that sounds beautiful in my native tongue to get a clear idea of what Sappho may have intended, and what is lost. I’d rather not have translators fill in the blanks, and it seems like Sappho has an unfortunate history of this “happening” to her. One of the frustrating things about any Greek text – or any translation, though this is especially true of a language far removed from yours – is the uncertainty involved. A lot of the previous translations turn three line fragments into long poems. What you get depends on the sensibilities of the translator. They wield an awful lot of power :( I distrust any translator of Sappho prior to like 20 years ago – aside from perhaps John Addison, an 18th C translator, who notably translated Fragment 31 (an often quoted fragment) to reflect that the speaker was female, while other less scrupulous translators made the speaker a man to protect their readership from anything so shocking as lady love (I <3 you John Addison).
Though – according to Reynolds - it turns out that this fragment, which was partly responsible for turning Sappho into a lesbian in the popular imagination, may actually be a wedding poem, or epithalamium. This means the whole work is nothing more than a compliment to the groom, that he has such a lovely new bride, rather than Sappho speaking of her love for an unattainable gal. Apparently much of Sappho’s work was wedding poems – this was a thing back in 7th C Lesbos. And perhaps it was Sappho’s thing, though Reynolds doesn’t make clear whether this can apply to all of Sappho’s work or just that one famous fragment.
This book probably works best for those extremely familiar with Sappho’s fragments. You’ll get a slice of literature that has referenced her over the last 2500 or so years. As someone who is not really familiar with Sappho (took a college course, read this book), it didn’t offer much for me.
Years ago, I hoped this was just a first chapter problem, but it actually continues throughout the whole book. There are many excerpts from plays and poems with no meaningful context. Sappho is more of a mystery than ever. Sadly, I think that Reynolds was trying to express to readers the unknowable aspect of Sappho with the layout of her book. That’s a clever idea. But try reading it, and it’s just a mess.
Having finished this, I’m looking forward to hopping back into Anne Carson’s translations of Sappho, which, according to the book description, come with “brackets and white space to denote missing text – allowing the reader to imagine the poems as they were written.” This is exciting to me, as I’m very interested in forsaking poetry that sounds beautiful in my native tongue to get a clear idea of what Sappho may have intended, and what is lost. I’d rather not have translators fill in the blanks, and it seems like Sappho has an unfortunate history of this “happening” to her. One of the frustrating things about any Greek text – or any translation, though this is especially true of a language far removed from yours – is the uncertainty involved. A lot of the previous translations turn three line fragments into long poems. What you get depends on the sensibilities of the translator. They wield an awful lot of power :( I distrust any translator of Sappho prior to like 20 years ago – aside from perhaps John Addison, an 18th C translator, who notably translated Fragment 31 (an often quoted fragment) to reflect that the speaker was female, while other less scrupulous translators made the speaker a man to protect their readership from anything so shocking as lady love (I <3 you John Addison).
Though – according to Reynolds - it turns out that this fragment, which was partly responsible for turning Sappho into a lesbian in the popular imagination, may actually be a wedding poem, or epithalamium. This means the whole work is nothing more than a compliment to the groom, that he has such a lovely new bride, rather than Sappho speaking of her love for an unattainable gal. Apparently much of Sappho’s work was wedding poems – this was a thing back in 7th C Lesbos. And perhaps it was Sappho’s thing, though Reynolds doesn’t make clear whether this can apply to all of Sappho’s work or just that one famous fragment.
This book probably works best for those extremely familiar with Sappho’s fragments. You’ll get a slice of literature that has referenced her over the last 2500 or so years. As someone who is not really familiar with Sappho (took a college course, read this book), it didn’t offer much for me.
May 30, 2015
If I tell you 'Sappho'? What is the first thing that comes to your mind? The most obvious ones are: 1. Lesbian (not the person from Lesbos) and 2. Poetess. It is surprising how society has molded the name of Sappho to its own convenience when the real person was far from that. It is surprising too, how well known is she today when most people haven't read a single poem, or fragment (since most of her poems have not been found complete). And even those fragments were written years after her death by people doing it by memory which goes on to show how much of her real words have been lost in time and which ones were the words of the writer. More than a poet, she was a singer, for poems were not written but sung, so, besides creating melodious lyrics she must have been a great musician and singer.
This book will not tell you about her life, you will find the wikipedia page bigger and far more rewarding in that area. This is, I should say, a sort of anthology of Sappho seen through literature: from the very Roman Period passing through the Middle Ages till today or (2000 when it was published). There are poems naming her and novels, too. It is curious how her image changed throughout history and how she became synonym of various things, some bad and some good. But when most of her life is unknown even today most of what we know of her is one big lie, since it comes from the inventions of a lot of artists. In recent years more fragments have been uncovered (this very year 2015 [http://www.livescience.com/49543-sapp...]).
Before speaking of this poetess as the modern flag for feminism or gay rights, people should read this first.
This book will not tell you about her life, you will find the wikipedia page bigger and far more rewarding in that area. This is, I should say, a sort of anthology of Sappho seen through literature: from the very Roman Period passing through the Middle Ages till today or (2000 when it was published). There are poems naming her and novels, too. It is curious how her image changed throughout history and how she became synonym of various things, some bad and some good. But when most of her life is unknown even today most of what we know of her is one big lie, since it comes from the inventions of a lot of artists. In recent years more fragments have been uncovered (this very year 2015 [http://www.livescience.com/49543-sapp...]).
Before speaking of this poetess as the modern flag for feminism or gay rights, people should read this first.
August 1, 2019
An interesting history of Sappho's evolving legacy over the millennia since her death. I'm on a bit of a Sappho kick this year and this was very illuminating. Just a note: very little is actually known about Sappho-- no primary documents from her lifetime survive today-- so this is much more about how she's been mythologized rather than about her as a person. Also I definitely wouldn't recommend this as an introductory text. I started with If Not, Winter and then moved on to several history podcast episodes (the Stuff You Missed in History Class episode is very good).
August 14, 2021
ABSOLUTELY LOVE.
December 30, 2011
Love this. Love this, love this. I hadn't read much Sappho before picking this up, knowing her mainly as "that one lesbian Greek poet", so this was really an educational experience (in a good way!). It starts with analyses of Sappho's poetry, given in the original Greek, then with translations ranging from poets across the centuries (quite literally); it's followed by perceptions of her throughout time, as each generation discovered her and recreated her into something new for their time period. What I found the most interesting was how varied the translations were; some of them forced her verse into the patterns of whatever poetic form was popular at the time; some (most?) erased the bisexual/lesbian/generally queer aspects of her work entirely; some stayed true to the original theme as closely as they could, while taking artistic liberties of their own. It was a fascinating glimpse into Sappho and the psyches of her adherents over time. I kind of loved it, if you couldn't tell.
July 18, 2016
Not quite what I was expecting it to be. I thought there would be more focus on Sappho herself -- her life, her works. Only the very beginning is about that. The rest of the book focuses on how Sappho was seen through the eyes of scholars, writers, artists, and society in general through the centuries, with many examples of poetry, prose, and visual art inspired by Sappho. Not a bad book in its way, just not what I expected.
January 1, 2015
Huh. It turns out that Sappho, while always a Lesbian, wasn't that much of a lesbian until the latter half of the 19th Century. This book consists of short essays about the figure of Sappho in history, each followed by an anthology of exemplars from the time period discussed. It, and Anne Carson's "Beauty of the Husband", which I was reading at the same time, might get me reading Keats again.
January 28, 2013
Very informative to see how Sappho has been and still is being fêted throughout the ages. Not bad for a woman who was born 600 years before Jesus.Gives a nice background and different studies of how she has been regarded. She has certainly made her mark !
October 15, 2014
This was disappointing -- as an anthology it had some interesting pieces, but as a history of Sappho in culture (intellectual or popular) it was very, very thin.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews