![]() ![]() ![]() These two Sapphic fragments, translated by Anita George and published in Poetry magazine in 1994, provide an insight into Sappho’s reputation as a love poet. Sappho then addresses Anactoria, the ‘army wife’ of the poem’s title, telling her that the sound of her returning footsteps would move the poet more than the sight of any cavalry or infantry soldiers … She uses Helen of Troy, praised as the face that launched a thousand ships, as an example in support of her argument: Helen’s beauty brought about the Trojan War. This is a love poem in several senses of the term: Sappho rejects the idea that military force is the finest thing on earth, instead expressing the opinion that love is more beautiful and powerful than the military might of armies and fleets. In this short lyric, which is translated in various ways, the poet laments her lonely state: the Pleiades (the cluster of stars also known as the Seven Sisters) are set, the moon is down, and the sky is dark at midnight. ![]()
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