Background
Literary Context
Like most of the other poetry composed in ancient Greece, Sappho’s poetry is lyric poetry, or, poetry created with the intention of being performed, sung and/or accompanied by music or a chorus of singers. She wrote in the Aeolic dialect, and her body of work, which exists mostly in incomplete fragments, reveals her unique writing style and direct approach to the complexities of love relationships. Only two complete poems and a series of poetic fragments have survived from the nine volumes of poetry she is supposed to have written during her lifetime.
As “Fragment 31” attests, Sappho’s lyrics are characterized by intense emotion, metrical sophistication, and direct honesty. Her love poems, in particular, are distinctive for their ability to reflect inner turmoil, as she addresses both pleasant and unpleasant experiences that are rich with deep emotion. From her famed collection of wedding songs celebrating a happy union, to her lament describing feelings of envy towards a rival, Sappho discusses the rich emotional life of humans who seek connection with others. Other important themes of Sappho’s oeuvre include fellowship and community, ritual and myths, political matters, and what it means to be good.
