The Sappho Companion

Love this. Love this, love this. I hadn't read much Sappho before picking this up, knowing her mainly as “that one lesbian Greek poet”, so this was really an educational experience (in a good way!). It starts with analyses of Sappho's poetry, given in the original Greek, then with translations ranging from poets across the centuries (quite literally); it's followed by perceptions of her throughout time, as each generation discovered her and recreated her into something new for their time period. What I found the most interesting was how varied the translations were; some of them forced her verse into the patterns of whatever poetic form was popular at the time; some (most?) erased the bisexual/lesbian/generally queer aspects of her work entirely; some stayed true to the original theme as closely as they could, while taking artistic liberties of their own. It was a fascinating glimpse into Sappho and the psyches of her adherents over time. I kind of loved it, if you couldn't tell.