Relationships between Love and War, Emotions and Violence
Relationship between Sappho and Egyptian Love Poets
Lyric: "a brief subjective poem strongly marked by
imagination, melody, and emotion, and creating a single,
unified impression" (H&H 283).
monody: an elegy (reflective
poem lamenting the loss of someone or something) with a
single speaker, the mourner.
Helen of Troy:
At the wedding of Peleus and Thetis (eventual parents
to Achilles), Eris, the goddess of Discord and Strife, is
the only one not invited, but crashes the party and throws
on the floor a golden apple, on which is written, "To the
most beautiful." Three goddesses--Hera, goddess of
marriage; Aphrodite, goddess of Love; and Athena, goddess of
wisdom and battles-- all claim it. To settle the
dispute, the gods ask Paris, a Trojan traveller, to decide
who should get the apple. Each goddess promises him a
reward to decide in her favor--Hera promises him power,
Athena offers wisdom, and Aphrodite promises him the love of
Helen. Aphrodite wins. (See Ch. 27 of Bulfinch
text )
** Homework Questions ** 468:
How do the editors describe the relationship between
Sappho's poetry and the "world of epic" (468)?
Sappho (ca. 615 B.C.):
Poem 1: "Deathless Aphrodite" 469:
What is happening in this poem? What does the speaker
want?
How much of this poem should be taken literally?
How much figuratively?
)
