In my opinion, Sappho uses descriptive language effectively to create emotions and images. In one of her pieces, she states that her “tongue is frozen in silence” and that “trembling seizes my body.” The reader can easily assume from this vividly described scene that the speaker is feeling anxiety, just through the description of actions. She did not have to explicitly state that she was anxious or feeling shattered about her lover speaking to a man, the audience could automatically draw the conclusion. This indicates her successful use of imagery within her piece. On a side-note, I noticed that all of the pieces we read this week use a lot of figurative elements when speaking about love, almost as if it is too “unreal” or too much of a difficult concept to grasp, which is why it can only be discussed figuratively.
2 thoughts on “Vivid Imagery in Sappho’s Literature”
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Sappho’s language is definitely descriptive and helpful in creating an image in our minds. Her words are carefully chosen to show us her emotions and how her intense love fuels her jealousy. Again, when she talks about her lover with another man she uses phrases like “fire is racing under skin” and ” cold sweat holds me and shaking grips me all, greener than grass.” I also agree with your thought about love being “unreal” or too abstract. Love for each individual is different and shown in various ways. Who can say what “true love” really is?
I also noticed that Sappho uses a lot of descriptive words in her poems. I think she does it to express her emotions and heartbreak. A lot of the poems were very sad because the women she loved left her so I think she wanted us to feel what she was feeling when it happened.