Sappho And Homer

In this book, Melissa Mueller brings two of the most celebrated poets from Greek antiquity into conversation with contemporary theorists of gender, sexuality, and affect studies. Like all lyric poets of her time, Sappho was steeped in the affects and story-world of Homeric epic, and the language, characters, and themes of her poetry often intersect with those of Homer. Yet the relationship between Sappho and Homer has usually been framed as competitive and antagonistic. This book instead sets the two side by side, within the embrace of a non-hierarchical, 'reparative reading' culture, as first conceived by queer theorist and poet Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick. Reintroducing readers to a Sappho who supplements Homer's vision, it is an approach that locates Sappho's lyrics at the center of timely discussions about materiality, shame, queer failure, and the aging body, while presenting a sustaining and collaborative way of reading both lyric and epic.

The longevity of Greek ideas, images, and systems of thought bears witness to the incomparable originality of ancient Greek scientific and artistic achievements and the genius of Hellenist society. It is on the foundation of Hellenist achievements that many of our modern advancements have developed. Greek culture also significantly impacted the development of literature and education, beginning with the Romans and expanding to Europe and the West. While the best-known literary masterpiece of the Archaic Greek period is the so-called Homeric epics – The Illiad and The Odyssey - other influential pieces were written by Hesiod and Sappho. Hesiod’s two known works were religious and instructive: Works and Days and Theogony. The ancient Greeks revered Homer and Hesiod and often cited their names together in theological and theological works. While the two could have been contemporaries, some estimate that Hesiod lived up to 100 years after Homer. Sappho was an ancient Greek poetess and musician. She pioneered song lyrics and the ancient Greeks included her in the canon of nine lyric poets. Plato even numbered her among the Parnassian goddesses, referring to her as the tenth muse. Homer. The Iliad. Translated by Alexander Pope Homer. The Odyssey. Translated by William Cowper Hesiod. Works and Days and Theogony. Translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White Sappho. The Complete Poems. Translated by John Myers O'Hara

Brings two of ancient Greece's most famous poets into conversation with contemporary theorists of gender, sexuality, and affect studies.

Before they were written down, the poems attributed to Homer were performed orally, usually by rhapsodes (singers/reciters) who might have traveled from city to city or enjoyed a position in a wealthy household. Even after the Iliad and the Odyssey were committed to writing, rhapsodes performed the poems at festivals, often competing against each other. As they recited the epics, the rhapsodes spoke as both the narrator and the characters. These different acts—performing the poem and narrating and speaking in character within it—are seldom studied in tandem. Homer in Performance breaks new ground by bringing together all of the speakers involved in the performance of Homeric poetry: rhapsodes, narrators, and characters. The first part of the book presents a detailed history of the rhapsodic performance of Homeric epic from the Archaic to the Roman Imperial periods and explores how performers might have shaped the poems. The second part investigates the Homeric narrators and characters as speakers and illuminates their interactions. The contributors include scholars versed in epigraphy, the history of art, linguistics, and performance studies, as well as those capable of working with sources from the ancient Near East and from modern Russia. This interdisciplinary approach makes the volume useful to a spectrum of readers, from undergraduates to veteran professors, in disciplines ranging from classical studies to folklore.

Collects the poems and fragments of the ancient Greek poet's surviving work, displaying the wide variety of themes in her work, from amorous songs celebrating adolescent females to poems of invocation, desire, spite, celebration, and remembrance.