οἶον τὸ γλυκύμαλον ἐρεύθεται
ἄκρῳ ἐπ‘ ὔσδῳ,
ἄκρον ἐπ‘ ἀκροτάτῳ, λελάθοντο
δὲ μαλοδρόπηες,
οὐ μὰν ἐκλελάθοντ‘, ἀλλ‘ οὐκ
ἐδύναντ‘ ἐπίκεσθαι
Glossary
|
WORD
|
ROMANIZED
|
DEFINITION
|
POSSIBLE SYNONYMS
|
|---|---|---|---|
| ἄκρῳ | ákro(adj.) | far above ground | top, high, far up, raised, elevated, way up on |
| ἄκρον | ákron(n.) | that which is the farthest above ground | highest point, tip, topmost, peak, top, high point, summit |
| ἀκροτάτῳ | akrotáto(n.) | the part of the tree which is the farthest above ground | the very highest branch, the tallest branch, the topmost extremity, the treetop |
| ἀλλ' | all’(conj.) | used to introduce something contrasting to what was previously stated | but, rather, instead |
| δὲ | dé(conj.) | in addition to | and, as well as, plus |
| ἐδύναντ' | edýnant’(v.) | have the ability to do something | they were able to, they could |
| ἐκλελάθοντ' | ekleláthont’(v.) | inadvertently neglect to attend to, do, or mention something | they forgot it, they overlooked it, they neglected it, they missed it, they ignored it |
| ἐπ' | ep’(prep.) | physically in contact with and supported by | on, atop, upon |
| ἐπίκεσθαιv | epíkesthai(v.) | to stretch out an arm in order to touch or grasp | reach it, grab it, get it |
| ἐρεύθεται | eréfthetai(v.) | to become the color of fire or rubies | grows red, turns crimson, reddens, blushes, flushes |
| γλυκύμαλον | glykýmalon(n.) | the round, crisp fruit of a tree from the rose family | sweet apple, apple, fruit |
| λελάθοντο | leláthonto(v.) | failed to notice something | forgot it, overlooked it, have forgotten it, neglected it, missed it, ignored it |
| μαλοδρόπηες | malodrópies(n.) | the people who pluck fruit from trees | apple pickers, fruit gatherers, harvesters, growers, sowers, gardeners, cultivators |
| μὰν | mán(adv.) | used to emphasize a statement | indeed, in fact, in truth, actually, if truth be told |
| οἶον | oíon(conj.) | in the same way that | just like, like, similar to, as, in such a way, thus |
| οὐ | ou(adv.) | used to form the negative | not, did not |
| οὐκ | ouk(adv.) | used to form the negative | not |
| τὸ | tó(art.) | indicates a person or thing already mentioned | the |
| ὔσδῳ | ýsdo(n.) | the part of a tree that grows out from the trunk | branch, limb, bough, arm, offshoot |
Background
I. Poetic Form
Sapphic
The sapphic dates back to ancient Greece and is named for the poet Sappho, who left behind many poem fragments written in an unmistakable meter. Sapphics are made up of any number of four-line stanzas, and many Greek and Roman poets used the form. It was introduced to Roman and European poets by Horace, who frequently used sapphics in his Odes, and later became popular as a verse form for hymns during the Middle Ages. Modern sapphics have been written by Ezra Pound, John Frederick Nims, and Anne Carson.
The original sapphic form was determined by quantitative meter, based on the nature of the ancient Greek language in which syllables were either long or short, depending on vowel length and ending sound. However, modern sapphics are rendered in accentual meter determined instead by the stress and intensity of a syllable. The accentual meter of the sapphic approximates the original form by equating long syllables with stressed ones, and short syllables with unstressed ones.
The strict meter of the sapphic, with its starts and stops, creates a powerful emotion that the language of the poem intensifies. Starting with a stressed syllable, as opposed to the familiar iambic foot that begins on an unstressed syllable, provides a sense of forcefulness and urgency to the sapphic, while the extra unstressed syllable at the core of the first three lines, offers a pause, or caesura, within the driving movement. The short fourth line may offer either a rest or a quick turn to the poem, or even an opportunity for conclusion, as with the final two lines of a Shakespearean sonnet.
Bio
Sappho is considered the greatest lyric poet of classical Greece. Not much is known about her life,and her poems survive mainly as fragments discovered on strips of papyrus,a paper–like material that was used to wrap Egyptian mummies. Other fragments have been salvaged from excerpts copied down by ancient scholars,or else from etchings on broken shards of pottery. Sappho wrote her impassioned poems for friends and lovers of both genders. She composed several love poems for wedding celebrations, singing the verses as she strummed the strings of her lyre.