Homeric Allusion in the Poetry of Sappho.

Abstract

Epic language is employed at times by all the early Greek lyric poets. In the case of Sappho, epicisms often constitute specific allusions to the content of the Homeric poems as we have come to know them. With a literary sophistication which critics usually admit only for Hellenistic poets, Sappho uses reference to Homer to reinforce and color her own poems. For this reason, successful interpretation of her work will often depend upon careful identification and analysis of these allusions. In Chapter 1, "Interpretation of Homeric Allusion," I examine the epicisms of the Lille Stesichoros and Sappho fr. 1 in order to demonstrate the difference between poetry which alludes to the content of the Iliad and Odyssey and poetry which does not. Analysis of Stesichoros' poem reveals the influence of the traditonal language of epic: Homerisms abound, but there is no connection between the content of the Stesichorean and Homeric passages in which they occur. Comparison of Sappho's epicisms to their counterparts in Homer, however, does indicate such a connection. Borrowing and adapting hapax legomena, unusual phrases and groups of expressions from related passages in Homer, she evokes and then reshapes Homeric Aphrodite. Unlike the goddess of epic, Sappho's Aphrodite is a proficient warrior: the poet calls upon her to be her ally in the metaphorical war of love. The metaphor of the war of love figures largely in the remaining three chapters of my study. In Chapter 2, "Sappho 16," I explore references to Homeric Helen and the Trojan War in Sappho's famous priamel. Aided by allusion to the Iliad, the poet is able first to state her preference of love to war, then to show that love and war are parallel phenomena and finally to assert the superiority of the war of love to actual war. Sappho's preference reflects the concerns of her own lyric, as opposed to epic, poetry. Chapter 3, "Sappho 31 and the Warrior/Lover Metaphor," concerns the poet's hymeneal poetry. Underst and ing of Sappho's application of traditionally epic language upholds the likelihood of epithalamial interpretations of fr. 31. Through this language, the poet invests the woman she loves (the bride) with a divine radiance, while identifying the man (the new husb and ) with the divinely favored warriors of epic and herself with lesser fighters. The elevation of the status of the bride and groom is typical of Sappho's marriage poems. The significance which the love/warrior metaphor held for Sappho is discussed in Chapter 4, "Sappho and Society." Evidence drawn from several sources strongly suggests that Sappho was responsible for the instruction of groups of aristocratic young girls on Lesbos. These groups resembled the male educational societies of Sparta. In both, homosexual love was used to strengthen the relationship between student and teacher. But whereas the focal point of the boys' training was war, the girls were prepared for marriage. It is therefore hardly surprising that Sappho should write poetry paralleling love and marriage to war. This parelleling is especially clear in fr. 44, "The Wedding of Hektor and and romache," wherein and romache's heroism as a bride is equated with her husb and 's valor in war.