Wednesday, February 3, 2016

The Poetry of Sappho

   I wish I know how to read Greek, speak it, listen to it, understand; and understand how the ancient Greeks communicate with their language and literature. There are walls that separates the poet, the poetry, and the audience and I find this case to be apparent with the contemporary translation of Sappho's poems. There are various translation of her poetry and various interpretation, this brings me to the first point that I made; I wish I know greek (or at least, know know it better). Nonetheless as far as they go, her poems are beautiful, to me they seem delicate, honest, and bold. I wonder if she writes them for the sake of writing them or for the sake of getting them across to her intended audiences (could be both). I think that it's interesting how a lot of her poems have something to do with excusing herself to feel the way she feels, a lot of them about romance and love. Her words are as beautiful as her approach and the ingredient that she brings to the table. She also composed and structured her poems beautifully.

Here's one that I really like

Tonight I've watched
the moon and then
the Pleiades
go down

The night is now
half-gone; youth
goes; I am

in bed alone

No comments: