Lesbian Desire in the Lyrics of Sappho

This book examines Sappho's poetry through the lens of lesbian desire, focusing on the narrative voice that describes female experience and desires as primary, not secondary to the dominant male culture. Snyder discusses each of the major surviving fragments and the one complete poem and examines the different ways in which Sappho's lyrics focus on women's emotional lives with one another and how female erotic desire is portrayed. She challenges some traditional assumptions about Sappho, arguing that rather than imitating Homer Sappho displays her independence by transforming Homeric material for her own purposes. A translation is given for each and as well as the original Greek text a transliteration into the Roman alphabet is given thus making the sound of the poetry accessible to those without any Greek. An epilogue discusses the influence of Sappho on a number of modern American women poets.