Activity

Sappho declares herself a pacifist

Characters:

Sappho of Lesbos (Sappho of Mytilene)

Theme: Lyric

Competencies

Competence in Linguistic Communication

Multilingual Competence

Personal, social and learning to learn competence

Competence in cultural awareness and expressions

Subjects and year by Educational System

Spain > Classical culture > 4th ESO > The survival of classical languages. Language and lexicon

Enunciation

<img title="Women's Legacy logo" src="//inclusion.womenslegacyproject.eu/images/LogoWL.svg" /><hr />Sappho is a Greek poet of the 6th century BC, which has subsequently inspired great poets. &nbsp;Read carefully this poem of her and answer the questions.&nbsp;
TEXT
Some say thronging cavalry, some say foot soldiers, &nbsp; others call a fleet the most beautiful of &nbsp; sights the dark earth offers, but I say it's what-&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; ever you love best.&nbsp; &nbsp; And it's easy to make this understood by &nbsp; everyone, for she who surpassed all human &nbsp; kind in beauty, Helen, abandoning her&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; husband&mdash;that best of&nbsp; &nbsp; men&mdash;went sailing off to the shores of Troy and &nbsp; never spent a thought on her child or loving &nbsp; parents: when the goddess seduced her wits and&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; left her to wander,&nbsp; &nbsp; she forgot them all, she could not remember &nbsp; anything but longing, and lightly straying &nbsp; aside, lost her way. But that reminds me&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; now: Anact&oacute;ria,&nbsp; &nbsp; she's not here, and I'd rather see her lovely &nbsp; step, her sparkling glance and her face than gaze on&nbsp; all the troops in Lydia in their chariots and&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; glittering armor.
From The Poetry of Sappho (Oxford University Press 2007), translated by Jim Powell.&nbsp;
1. Read carefully the text in which Helen, her family and Cypris are mentioned. Indicate which epiosode it refers to, something that is only suggested in the text.&nbsp;
2. Check your textbook for the characteristics and differences between lyric poetry and Classical period epic. Locate these elements in the text by distributing them in two sections.&nbsp;
3. Match the title of the activity to the content of the poem. Does it have to do with Sappho being a woman? Reflect on the fact that women generally prefer peace to war.&nbsp;
4. Order the sentences in the first paragraph as if it were a text in prose. Which of the two texts thrills you the most? What has the author done here to provoke such emotion?&nbsp;

Observations and context

Sappho's example served as a stimulus for almost all the surviving poets of Greco-Roman antiquity, from the Greeks (Mirtis and Corina, from Boeotia; Telesila and Praxila, from the Peloponnese; Erina, from the island of Telos; Mero, from Byzantium; Anita, from Tegea, a modest village in Arcadia? ) to the Romans (Melino, the elegiac Sulpicia, Herenia Procula, Sulpicia the satirist, the travellers Julia Balbila and Cecilia Trebula, Fabia Aconia Paulina, the last pagan...). Romantic writers used it as a shield to validate female authorship (Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, Carolina Coronado, María Rosa Gálvez, etc.). With the contributions of the papyri found at the end of the 19th and 20th centuries, Sappho was once again translated and read.

Description

The activity consists of a comprehensive reading and text commentary on a fragmentary poem by Sappho, as well as the identification, in the poem, of elements of Epic and Lyric poetry that lead to a reflection on war and peace.

Sappho declares herself a pacifist

Enunciation

Observations and context

Description

Answer

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