Sappho, << SAF oh, >> was a Greek lyric poet who lived about 600 B.C. Her only surviving verse consists of one probably complete poem and fragments of many others. These lines show intense but controlled emotion expressed in direct language. They demonstrate Sappho’s keen powers of observation and her ability to capture in a few words insights into the world of both nature and human nature. Later poets, especially the Roman poets Catullus and Horace, imitated Sappho’s four-line stanza, called the Sapphic. See Poetry (Ancient poetry) .
Sappho was born into an aristocratic family at either Eresos or Mytilene (now Mitilini) on the island of Lesbos. At Mytilene, she led a circle of young women who were her disciples. These women worshiped Aphrodite and other goddesses, and learned music and other arts as well as social graces. Although some of Sappho’s lyrics celebrate friendship among women, her circle was for the young, who often left the group to marry. Sappho herself valued the company of both men and women. She was married, and had a daughter named Cleis.
