Niall's Reading- Visibility of an Image

           In Sappho’s To Her You Were Like a Visible Goddess, she is describing her feelings for her love, Atthis.  This idea of Atthis’ visibility is significant in how central she is to Sappho.  Her visibility carries some irony though since Sappho can no longer see Atthis and she is merely a memory.  Sappho’s poem is a pining for her former lover that displays how dominant she is but ends with the realization that she is not visible at all but ironically only a memory.

Although Atthis may only be a memory, she is very visible to Sappho.  This idea is most noticeable how she claims that Atthis is “as conspicuous among Lydian/ women as the rose-tipped moon/ surpasses all stars after/ the sun has set” (Sappho 159).  There are two main ideas to discern from this passage:  conspicuous which means observable, and “surpasses all stars after the sun has set” (159) which demonstrates that Atthis is noticeable as well as prevalent to every star in the sky.  This passage depicts Atthis’ importance to Sappho as she also compares her to a “visible goddess” (159).  It would be easier to compare her to a goddess but instead Sappho mentions that she is visible.  Her being a visible goddess is not only important in how real she is to Sappho but also how unattainable she is

            Sappho clarifies that she cannot be with Atthis anymore because at the end of the poem Sappho describes that she is gone and that she yearns for her.  Sappho makes this quite clear in the final stanza:  “But she walks there remembering/ gentle Atthis, her spirit wasted/ with yearning, heart consumed with pain” (161).  Sappho is remembering Atthis and yearning for her as she feels the pangs of lost love.  Throughout the poem Sappho describes her love’s visibility and prominence vividly only to finally reveal that she cannot be with her.  As visible as Atthis may be and all that she supersedes, she paradoxically is not there to be seen at all.  This juxtaposition shows that even though Sappho cannot be with Atthis, she is dominant and visible in her mind.

            Sappho’s poem is filled with imagery that not only displays Atthis’ magnificence but also how observable she is.  She ends with the idea that Atthis is not even attainable but still etched in her thoughts.  The contrast becomes more ironic as Sappho describes more of Atthis’ beauty and charm only to reveal in the end that she cannot obtain it.