1. SAPPHO KRISTEN, ADAM, NOLAN

2. WEEKLY NOTES Sappho is the only female Greek Author whose work survives today Very few of her poems have been preserved Sappho was a teacher of young aristocratic women Many of her poems are thought to reflect the relationships she had with her students. She taught them to be noble women It breaks her heart to know that her students will all marry men that will not appreciate them the way she does She works can sometimes be semi-erotic or purely platonic

3. POEM 1 The narrator is praying to Aphrodite The narrator is telling about how Aphrodite helped convince someone to love her Aphrodite says that no matter what she will make the love happen “If she does not love, soon she will love even unwilling.” The narrator is then consoled by Aphrodite, who she calls her ally

4. POEM 16 Compares two beauties against one another; soldiers and love Helen left for a man that she loved and did not want to remember her family Helen left a family that loved her to go to Troy. Sappho relates to the grief of Helen’s family by stating that her love, Anaktoria, is gone too

5. POEM 31 Sappho is talking about a man taking a woman she loves He makes her heart race and her skin tingle He makes her feel like she is about to die Sappho displays jealousy and almost a rage about this man who is alienating her love

6. DISCUSSION Sappho is a teacher. It is unclear if she loves her students platonically or romantically, but we can assume that she teaches her students to embody a sense of independence. She invokes Aphrodite several times to help her. She describes Aphrodite as a terrifying power that is able to inflict the woe and agony of love. Aphrodite often serves as a military ally to Sappho. Sappho is definitely a strong female power, but at the same time she often leans on Aphrodite as a crutch. Sappho is definitely on the feminist side of the gender wars, but only because of her distain for the men who marry her students.