Fragments in translation

First line index.

Linked index to English and Unicode Greek versions of Sappho here at Peithô's Web and select external sites. Wharton's Miscellaneous fragments (121-170) are not indexed.

Sappho fragments from H.T. Wharton's 1895 Sappho.

The famous Wharton collection includes 170 fragments, some with many translations by such fine writers as J.H. Merivale, Swinburne and J.A. Symonds.

Wharton with Unicode Greek.

English & Unicode Greek for fragments 1 to 120 (Bergk).

H. T. Wharton's Life of Sappho

· Family and times
· Sappho and Phaon
· Sappho's girlfriends (Victorian view)
· Sappho's beauty and the ancients
· Later views (includes Swinburne on translating Sappho)
· Portrayals in comedy and drama
· Works and meters

Some favorites:
· Immortal Aphrodite of the broidered throne ...   Uni
· That man seems to me peer of gods ...   Uni
· Some say ... but I say (tr. Harris), (Also Myatt)
· Come here to me from Crete ... (tr. Maingon)
· The stars about the fair moon ...   Uni
· I have a fair daughter with a form like a golden flower ...   Uni
· I just really want to die. (tr. Harris)
· Hadst thou felt desire for things good or noble ...   Uni
· The moon has set, and the Pleiades ...   Uni
· Happy bridegroom ... Uni
· This is the dust of Timas, ...   Uni
· She honoured you like a goddess (tr. Myatt)
· Age seizes my skin and turns my hair ... (tr. Myatt)
· But thou shalt ever lie dead ...   Uni
· Evening, thou that bringest all ...   Uni

Also here at The Divine Sappho

Poems of Sappho, translated by Julia Dubnoff

Julia Dubnoff created these translations for a course at Harvard University, and has graciously permitted us to share them with you at The Divine Sappho.

Friends of Sappho

Guest contributions to the appreciation of Sappho and her poetry.

The Spectator, Nov. 15, 1711 (complete)

Joseph Addison on Sappho, with the first published English translation of Sappho's "Hymn to Aphrodite," by Ambrose Philips.

The Spectator Nov. 22, 1711 (complete)

Addison fulfils his promise to further explore Sappho, and includes a translation of fr. 2 by Philips.

On the Sublime, Book 10, featuring Sappho

W. Rhys Roberts' translation of Book 10 of the great work once associated with Longinus. Part of the complete On the Sublime at Peithô's Web.

Sappho in Demetrius' On Style

Passages from Demetrius on Sappho's beautiful style, with links to Roberts' translation of Demetrius On Style, here at Peithô's Web.

Dionysius on Sappho's smooth style

Dionysius of Halicarnassus' On Literary Composition saved Sappho's Hymn to Aphrodite for us in order to illustrate the smooth style of composition.

Atthis, by Laurent Chapman

Writings by and about Sappho inspired Laurent Chapman's Atthis, which the artist has kindly allowed to appear at The Divine Sappho.

Symonds on Sappho and the Lyric Poets

Extracts from J.A. Symonds' The Greek Poets on Lesbos and Sappho's beauty, with comparisons to Alcaeus, Anacreon, and Ibycus. Also: love metaphors.

K.O. Müller on Sappho

The famous 19th Century classicist on Sappho, from Müller's A History of the Literature of Ancient Greece.

Gilbert Murray, The Personal Song.

Murray's Ancient Greek Literature on the songs of Alcaeus, Sappho, Anacreon

Antiochus and Stratonice.

The touching story from Plutarch's Life of Demetrius tells how Sappho helped a doctor and a father's love save the life of Antiochus.

The D.W. Myatt translations

Included here with permission, Myatt translates several fragments discovered after Wharton wrote his book.

William Harris translates Sappho

Harris' translations of fr. 16 and 94 (Lobel-Page) appear here with his permission. See his sensitive readings of these and other fragments at his Sappho and the World of Lesbian Poetry

Come to me from Crete, tr. Maingon

Appearing here with A. D. Maingon's kind permission.

Walter Peterson's English verse translations of Sappho

Peterson's 116 verse translations of Sappho in The Lyric Songs of the Greeks (1918) include several fragments that were unknown to Wharton.

Ovid's Heroides XV, Sappho to Phaon

Pope's verse translation. The Latin text is at George Mason U. Classics.

Sappho links

Aioidoi.org.

William Annis' rendezvous for lovers of ancient poetry, with discussion forums and a growing collection of ancient texts and articles.

Some Sappho at Diotima.

· Women's voices: Sappho
· Elizabeth Vandiver: Sappho's Hymn to Aphrodite
· Steven Willet on Horatian Meters
· Judith P. Hallett: Sappho and Latin Literature

Elpenor's Sappho

The Sappho page at a beautiful web site devoted to Greek life, literature and language: Elpenor's Home of the Greek World

Henrik W. Gade's Lesbos.

These fine Sappho pages include Sappho texts in Greek, new English and Danish translations, the complete score of Gade's Lesbos for choir and small symphony in PDf files, a new introduction to Sappho, and more.

Sappho Schoolmistress

Holt N. Parker's witty antidote to gullibility concerning Sappho.

Edwin Marion Cox translations

Large collection, with transliterations and first line index by J.B. Hare.

Sappho at The Hypertexts

Visit the Sappho Translations page at The HyperTexts to discover why poets like Ben Jonson, T. S. Eliot, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Charles Algernon Swinburne, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Lowell, Lord Byron, Walter Savage Landor, Sir Phillip Sidney and William Carlos Williams either translated her work, or wrote poems inspired by it.

Sappho, Ancient Greek Poet

A nice overview of Sappho with fine links, including many new links to modern looks at Sappho.

Sappho at Sappho.com

With a brief biography, bibliography, and several modern translations.

Sappho's Hymn to Aphrodite, by Pierfrancesco La Mura

An evocative translation that strives to replicate Sappho's meter, with brief, thought-provoking notes. La Mura also offers an Italian translation

Sappho and Phaon, by Mary Robinson

This 1796 work has biographical comments and sonnets inspired by Sappho.

The New Sappho

Translations by Edwin Morgan and Lachlan Mackinnon of a newly recognized fragment of Sappho discovered in a papyrus at the University of Cologne. At The Times Literary Supplement.

Papyri

· L-P 98, (P. Haun, Institute of Greek and Latin.)
· More Sappho papyrus fragments are at POxy: Oxyrhynchus Online

Visual
This lovely version of the so-called Saffo Roman wall painting (original here) comes through the kindness of Julilla Sempronia. Other Internet views of Sappho include:
· Sappho Art Museum, at Beloit College Classics
· Sappho, by Mengin (at the Manchester Art Gallery)
· Moreau, Sappho on the cliff   (Loggia)
· Cover of Robinson's Sappho and Phaon   (U Virginia)
· Cover of Mary Barnard's Sappho (UC Press)
· Dannecker (Carlos Parada's Greek Mythology Link)
· Sappho at Sapphasart.com (Click to enlarge)
· Sappho Portrait at UTexas
· Sappho, by Heva Coomans (Here at the Divine Sappho)

Audio
· Lyre 'n' Rhapsody's YouTube video Spring's Angel charms lovers of Sappho. We also enjoyed Oson Zeis and the lyre solo Echoing. Lyre 'n' Rhapsody's web page introduces their new album, "Awakening the Muse."

· dreaMMage harmonizes Sappho with modern music. Their site has samples from their album as well as English and German translations of selected lyrics. Aphrodite's Dance is now on Youtube.

· Sappho fr. 1, read in Greek by S.G. Daitz. From the Society for the Oral Reading of Greek and Latin Literature.

· Sappho: poet of fire. From The Classics Pages, with several click-and-hear Greek fragments from Sappho.

· Erica Jong on Sappho and Sappho's Leap, in Real Audio with text, at the Commonwealth Club.

· Dr. Paula Saffire sings Songs of Sappho The noted author and lecturer sings in English and Greek, at Butler U.

· NPR's Book club of the air: Sappho, includes a visit by Mary Barnard, readings of Sappho's fragments, and talk of Sappho and her poetry.

· Aphrodite and Adonis. Sappho is among poets translated by Brooks Haxton (RealAudio) at Atlantic Monthly's site.

· Bantock: "The moon has set" from "Sappho." Hyperion Record's page for Bantock's 'Sappho' and 'Sapphic Poem' includes a RealAudio extract.

· In the Footsteps of the Gods. Hearing the ghosts of Orpheus and Sappho in Lesbos, with Jim Metzner and RealAudio.

· Sappho's 'It was you, O Atthis'. A poem of Sappho adapted and read by Jennifer Reeser (RealAudio, 1 minute).

· Ode to Sappho Live (YouTube). at Ronnie Scott's, London, 2001. Billy Thompson: Violin; Peter Lemer: Keyboards; Jon Hiseman: Drums;Dave Ball: Bass;Barbara Thompson: Saxophone/Composer.

Credits, etc.

Wharton's fragments in translation, Life of Sappho, and Pope's Sappho to Phaon come from Sappho: Memoir, Text, Selected Renderings and a Literal Translation by Henry Thornton Wharton. 3rd edition, London:John Lane, 1895.

Please send corrections, suggestions, and comments to Agathon. The Divine Sappho is for enjoyment. No warranty of any kind is provided for the materials at The Divine Sappho.

Special thanks to web artisan Louise Dade, formerly with Classical Webdesigns, for her suggestions.