It’s like, you can’t just talk to your lyre that way.ĪK: I definitely–it does inspire me, though.

I don’t like it when you talk to me like that.”ĪK: It’s like, you know, modern workplace sexual harassment. “Play the plectrum on me.”ĪK: Even if that’s not what the lyre would actually say, it’s what Sappho would say the lyre would say.ĪK: The lyre’s like, “Change my strings! Please!”ĮB: Yeah, and the lyre’s like, “I never said that to you. So what do you think that the lyre says back to her?ĮB: Oh my god, what does the lyre say back to Sappho? I feel like–god, why do I, like, want to go sexual?ĮB: I don’t know. LC: Ellie, I know that you’re so good at inserting, like, what you think would happen with Sappho. So we don’t have the response from her lyre, but it sounds like this was a dialogue poem where Sappho talks and then her lyre speaks back, which is really cool to imagine. And in the translations, Diane mentions, in the notes, that we get this poem quoted by a Greek rhetorician named Hermogenes, from the second century CE, and he quotes the fragment and says that Sappho addresses her lyre, and then her lyre answers. She’s talking to her lyre, talking to her instrument.

And I liked this poem for this episode because it is kind of Sappho like reflecting on how she herself is a performer. And why did you choose this particular poem for this episode?ĪK: Well, today’s episode, like you mentioned, is about performances of Sappho. I’m gonna read Diane Rayor’s translation of Sappho’s Fragment 118: “Come, divine lyre, speak to me / and sing!”ĮB: Beautiful. Hello, Alyse.ĮB: What poem do you have for us? I’m so excited.ĪK: I’ve got a real short one for you, but it’s really nice. Stay tuned until the end of the episode to hear our own version of the poem as a song. LC: As we do each episode, we’re going to start with one of Sappho’s fragments, chosen by our resident poet, Alyse. We’ve previously discussed Jane Montgomery Griffiths’s play, “Sappho…in 9 Fragments.” In this episode, we’re going to speak with some other performers who have played Sappho herself, or have been inspired by Sappho. We’re your hosts, Ellie Brigida…ĮB: This episode, we’re going to be talking about Sappho on stage. Diane Rayor: “Ἔρος δηὖτέ μ’ ὀ λυσιμέλης δόνει, γλυκύπικρον ἀμάχανον ὄρπετον.”Įllie Brigida: Welcome to Sweetbitter, a podcast where we investigate the truth and controversy surrounding Sappho, her life, the Isle of Lesbos, and her relevance today.

Sweetbitter love poems of sappho