Editing Sappho (section)

===Style===
{{quote box
| quote = <poem>
He seems like a god to me the man who is near you,
Listening to your sweet voice and exquisite laughter
That makes my heart so wildly beat in my breast.
If I but see you for a moment, then all my words
Leave me, my tongue is broken and a sudden fire
Creeps through my blood. No longer can I see.
My ears are full of noise. In all my body I
Shudder and sweat. I am pale as the sun-scorched
Grass. In my fury I seem like a dead woman,
But I would dare...</poem>{{br}}&mdash; [[Sappho 31]], trans. [[Edward Storer]]{{sfn|Aldington|Storer|1919|p=15}}
}}
Sappho worked within a well-developed tradition of poetry from Lesbos, which had evolved its own poetic diction, metres, and conventions.{{sfn|Burn|1960|page=229}} Prior to Sappho and her contemporary Alcaeus, Lesbos was associated with poetry and music through the mythical [[Orpheus]] and [[Arion]], and through the seventh-century{{nbsp}}BC poet [[Terpander]].{{sfn|Thomas|2021|p=35}}  The [[Aeolic verse|Aeolic metrical tradition]] in which she composed her poetry was distinct from that of the rest of Greece as its lines always contained a fixed number of syllables &ndash; in contrast to other traditions that allowed for the substitution of two short syllables for one long or vice versa.{{sfn|Battezzato|2021|p=121}}

Sappho was one of the first Greek poets to adopt the "lyric 'I'" – to write poetry adopting the viewpoint of a specific person, in contrast to the earlier poets [[Homer]] and [[Hesiod]], who present themselves more as "conduits of divine inspiration".{{sfn|duBois|1995|p=6}} Her poetry explores individual identity and personal emotions – desire, jealousy, and love; it also adopts and reinterprets the existing imagery of epic poetry in exploring these themes.{{sfn|duBois|1995|p=7}} Much of her poetry focuses on the lives and experiences of women.{{sfn|Lardinois|2022|p=266}} Along with the love poetry for which she is best known, her surviving works include poetry focused on the family, epic-influenced narrative, wedding songs, cult hymns, and invective.{{sfn|Budelmann|2019|pp=113&ndash;114}}

With the exception of a few songs, where the performance context can be deduced from the surviving fragments with some degree of confidence, scholars disagree on how and where Sappho's works were performed.{{sfn|Ferrari|2021|p=107}}  They seem to have been composed for a variety of occasions both public and private, and probably encompassed both solo and [[choral]] works.{{sfn|Kurke|2021|p=95}}  Most of her best-preserved fragments, such as the Ode to Aphrodite, are usually thought to be written for solo performance{{sfn|Kurke|2021|p=94}} &ndash; though some scholars, such as André Lardinois, believe that most or all of her poems were originally composed for choral performances.{{sfn|Ferrari|2021|p=108}} These works, which [[Leslie Kurke]] describes as "private and informal compositions" in contrast to the public ritual nature of cultic hymns and wedding songs,{{sfn|Kurke|2021|p=96}} tend to avoid giving details of a specific chronological, geographical, or occasional setting, which Kurke suggests facilitated their reperformance by performers outside Sappho's original context.{{sfn|Kurke|2021|pp=97&ndash;99}}

Sappho's poetry is known for its clear language and simple thoughts, sharply-drawn images, and use of direct quotation that brings a sense of immediacy.{{sfn|Campbell|1967|p=262}} Unexpected word-play is a characteristic feature of her style.{{sfn|Zellner|2008|p=435}} An example is from [[Sappho 96|fragment 96]]: "now she stands out among Lydian women as after sunset the rose-fingered moon exceeds all stars",{{sfn|Rayor|Lardinois|2014|p=66}} a variation of the [[Homeric epithet]] "rosy-fingered Dawn".{{sfn|Zellner|2008|p=439}} Her poetry often uses [[hyperbole]], according to ancient critics "because of its charm":{{sfn|Zellner|2008|p=438}} for example, in fragment 111 she writes that "The groom approaches like Ares [...] Much bigger than a big man".{{sfn|Rayor|Lardinois|2014|p=73}}

Kurke groups Sappho with those archaic Greek poets from what has been called the "élite" ideological tradition,{{efn|Though the word "élite" is used as a shorthand for a particular ideological tradition within Archaic Greek poetic thought, it is highly likely that all Archaic poets in fact were part of the elite, both by birth and wealth.{{sfn|Kurke|2007|p=152}}}} which valued luxury ({{Transliteration|grc|habrosyne}}) and high birth. These elite poets tended to identify themselves with the worlds of Greek myths, gods, and heroes, as well as the wealthy East, especially [[Lydia]].{{sfn|Kurke|2007|pp=147–148}} Thus in fragment 2 she has Aphrodite "pour into golden cups nectar lavishly mingled with joys",{{refn|Sappho 2.14–16}} while in the Tithonus poem she explicitly states that "I love the finer things [{{Transliteration|grc|habrosyne}}]".{{refn|Sappho 58.15}}{{sfn|Kurke|2007|p=150}}{{efn|M. L. West comments on the translation of this word, {{"'}}Loveliness' is an inadequate translation of {{Transliteration|grc|habrosyne}}, but I have not found an adequate one.  Sappho does not mean 'elegance' or 'luxury{{'"}}.{{sfn|West|2005|page=7}}}} According to [[Page duBois]], the language, as well as the content, of Sappho's poetry evokes an aristocratic sphere.{{sfn|duBois|1995|pp=176–7}} She contrasts Sappho's "flowery,[...] adorned" style with the "austere, decorous, restrained" style embodied in the works of later classical authors such as [[Sophocles]], [[Demosthenes]], and [[Pindar]].{{sfn|duBois|1995|pp=176–7}}