Sappho Poem Close Reading
The poem, “To Her You Were like a Visible Goddess” describes a very personal experience in the life of the Roman Sappho. She recounts the loss of a relationship with her lover Atthis. In the very beginning of the poem Sappho elevates Atthis to a plane above humans; she calls he a “visibile goddess” whose singer was “her greatest delight.” This elevation and glorification of Atthis serves to show the intense love and emotion that Sappho held for her. Surprisingly though, the misery that Sappho experiences as a result of the loss of her relationship with Atthis seems to accentuate her own beauty. Sappho’s anguish causes her to stand out from Lydian women and almost glow and “surpass all the stars.” This matches Sappho’s belief that the most beautiful thing in the world is a person’s desire. So this intense pain and anguish she is suffering is in fact very beautiful. The loss of relationship causes Sappho’s desire to grow and accentuate her beauty. Sappho’s “heart consumed with pain” and her “spirit wasted with yearning” represent the most beautiful thing on earth: desirer.
Hamzah
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