sappho if not winter fragments of sappho

Indeed, the essence of celebration is a bringing-together of many people.

The symphony of voices which make up choral performance are not indistinguishable in Sappho’s work, but are instead a varied, yet unified, community of people. In several fragments, Sappho torques this youthful character of song by also characterizing the celebratory character of song as inherently communal. Song also surrounds weddings, which at the time, required especially youthful brides. It is associated with the sweet voices of young women, and is joyful, fresh, and often celebratory. It isn’t surprising that Sappho makes frequent reference to music, given that her poems were written as song lyrics and she herself was, in her time, celebrated as a great musician. The moon was also associated with the virgin goddess Artemis, who Sappho praises in “Fragment 44Aa.” The lunar cycle echoes women’s menstrual cycles, while the way its silvery light pours out over the earth suggests another model of female fertility independent of the reproductive functions of women’s bodies. It symbolizes the possibility for love across a distance, and the ability to see beauty from afar, themes that resonate with the poet’s devotion both to women who have departed, and to the immortal goddess Aphrodite.

Sappho celebrates the beauty of the moon in “Fragment 34,” and again, at length, in “Fragment 96.” In Sappho’s work, the moon isn’t just a glowing celestial body, but rather a complex symbol of the kinds of womanhood and love for women that Sappho’s poetry celebrates.

Sappho if not winter fragments of sappho