Monday, June 18, 2012

Poetry - 2

The second poem in the book is from Sappho, one of the very few women whose writings have survived from ancient Greece.  I don't know if this is a full poem or a fragment but here it is:
He is a god in my eyes-
the man who is allowed
to sit beside you - he

who listens intimately
to the sweet murmur of
your voice, the enticing

laughter that makes my own
heart beat fast. If I meet
you suddenly, I can't

speak - my tongue is broken;
a thin flame runs under
my skin; seeing nothing,

hearing only my own ears
drumming, I drip with sweat;
trembling shakes my body

and I turn paler than
dry grass. At such times
death isn't far from me.
This is obviously a vision of a very passionate love.  Perhaps something early in an infatuation.  I definitely remember feeling like this at times in my teens.  If you read this in a more modern setting it would fit without any problem.  Well, the first paragraph would stand out since we almost never refer to someone as 'a god' anymore. 
In fact, that first paragraph is very interesting.  'The man that sits beside you'.  Who is the poem written about?  The companion of a friend?  After the completion of the first full sentence the peom changes its target from 'he' to 'you'.  Is the man some kind of god only because he is allowed to sit so near the beloved one? 
Anyway, I like it. 

3 comments:

  1. I've not read Sappho before. I've heard a little about her. She is from the isle of Lesbos and her sexual orientation was open to all genders. That makes me wonder if this poem is about passion for another woman. Sappho calls 'he' a god because of who he sits close to, not on his own merit. The laughter of the person next to him makes Sappho's heart beat faster. That person gets her tongue-tied. "You" may very well be a woman. Great poem. I also wonder if 'you' is some how not available to Sappho. 'He' is allowed to sit beside 'you' Is Sappho not allowed?

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    Replies
    1. Stan, I hadn't thought of whether Sappho would be allowed to sit beside the subject! Very interesting question. I know that the Greeks had a very relaxed attitude towards men with men but I don't know about women with women. And yeah, a great poem.

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  2. It might be a legal or cultural stricture, but it may also just be a personal stricture. Perhaps the girl doesn't reciprocate Sappho's feelings or wouldn't reciprocate them.

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