Archilochus and Sappho
Lyric Poetry: Literary Birth of
Individual Consciousness (?)
Greek Lyric Poetry
(Seventh-Sixth Centuries BCE)
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Poēō (“make”) > Poēsis (“making”) > Poēmata (“things
made”; “poems”)
Lyric Poetry: Song accompanied by Music (lyre); Monody
or Chorus
Alcaeus, Alcman, Anacreon, Archilochus, Bacchylides,
Corinna, Praxilla,Telesilla,Tyrtaeus, Sappho
Sculpture and Artistic Convention
A Detour through the Plastic Arts
New York Kouros
ca. 600 BCE
Anavysos Kouros
ca. 530 BCE
Peplos Kore
ca. 530 BCE
Phrasikleia and Kouros in situ
Aristion of Paros, ca. 540 BCE
Temple of Aphaia on Aegina
West Pediment (end 6th century BCE)
Temple of Aphaia on Aegina
East Pediment (after Persian wars?)
Temple of Aphaia on Aegina
West Pediment (end 6th century BCE)
Temple of Aphaia on Aegina
East Pediment (after Persian wars?)
Strangford Apollo
ca. 490 BCE (Lemnos?)
Critias Boy (Athens)
ca. 480-475 BCE
Homeric Epic and Hesiodic Wisdom Poetry
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Homer, Iliad and Odyssey
 Omniscient, Invisible Third-Person Narration
Hesiod, Theogony, Works and Days
 Theogony -- Omniscient, Invisible Third-Person
Narration
 Works and Days - First Person Narration at Beginning
of Poem; Address to Brother Perses
Greece, Coastal Asia Minor and Islands
Paros of the Cyclades (home of Archilochus)
Archilochus of Paros (ca. 680-640 BCE)
I am two things: a fighter who follows the Master of Battles,
And one who understands the gift of the Muses’ love.
Archilochus of Paros (ca. 680-640 BCE)
Some barbarian is waving my shield, since I was obliged to
Leave that perfectly good piece of equipment behind
Under a bush. But I got away, so what does it matter?
Let the shield go; I can buy another one equally good.
Archilochus of Paros (ca. 680-640 BCE)
So much I said, but then I took the girl into the flowers in bloom and
laid her down, protecting her with my soft cloak, her neck held in my
arms. Though out of fear like a fawn she hindered, I encouraged her
and her breasts with my hands I gently grasped. She, there and then,
herself showed young flesh--the onset of her prime--and, all her
lovely body fondling, I also let go with my force, just touching,
though, her tawny down.
Lesbos of the northern Aegean
(home of Sappho)
Sappho of Lesbos (ca. 620-550 BCE)
But I claim there will be some who remember us
when we are gone.
Sappho of Lesbos (ca. 620-550 BCE)
You will die and be still, never shall be memory left of you after this, nor
regret when you are gone. You have not touched the flowers of the
Muses, and thus, shadowy still in the domain of Death, you must drift
with a ghost’s fluttering wings, one of the darkened dead.
Sappho of Lesbos (ca. 620-550 BCE)
This is the dust of Timas, who died before she was married and whom
Persephone’s dark chamber accepted instead. After her death the
maidens who were her friends, with sharp iron cutting their lovely hair,
laid it upon her tomb.
Sappho of Lesbos (ca. 620-550 BCE)
Like the very gods in my sight is he who sits where he can look in your eyes, who
listens close to you, to hear the soft voice, its sweetness murmur in love and
laughter, all for him. But it breaks my spirit; underneath my breast all the heart is
shaken. Let me only glance where you are, the voice dies, I can say nothing, but
my lips are stricken to silence, underneath my skin the tenuous flame suffuses;
nothing shows in front of my eyes, my ears are muted in thunder. And the sweat
breaks running upon me, fever shakes my body, paler I turn than grass is; I can
feel that I have been changed, I feel that death has come near me.
Discussion Questions
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What difficulties might the relationship between changes
in Greek sculptural art and Greek lyric poetry present in
terms of historical methodology? Can we posit a common
factors in historical causation?
Can we say that in Greek lyric poetry of the seventh and
sixth centuries BCE we are witnessing the birth of the
individual in western literature?