Overview
This
only complete Sappho poem, "Hymn to Aphrodite," expresses the very
human plea for help with a broken heart. The speaker, who is identified in
stanza 5 as the poet Sappho, calls upon the goddess of love, Aphrodite, to come
to her aid. The goddess has helped the speaker in the past and will leave her
golden palace to come to Earth to help her faithful believer. The center of the
poem recalls past visits in which the goddess has brought a reluctant lover
back. The goddess promises that the lover will soon know love as intense as
that suffered by the poet, and so the poem ends on a more hopeful recognition
of the goddess's power to resolve the pain of love.
Stanza 1
In
the first stanza, the speaker calls upon the goddess Aphrodite to come to her
aid. The speaker begins by acknowledging the power of the goddess, whom she
calls "immortal," the daughter of the mighty Zeus, the greatest of
all the Greek gods. After recognizing Aphrodite's power and lineage, the
speaker mentions the goddess's skills at deception, using a Greek work that
different translators have interpreted to mean guile-weaver, enchantress, one
who twists lures, snare-knitter, cunning, wily, or love-perplexing. All of
these translations suggest that the speaker is calling upon specific skills that
Aphrodite employs to ensnare a reluctant lover. In the final line of the
stanza, the speaker entreats the goddess not to ignore her pleadings and
thereby break a heart already stricken with grief.
Stanza 2
The
second stanza continues the plea of the first stanza, again asking the goddess
to come to the speaker's aid. She reminds the goddess of her devotion in the
past, of the songs that have been sung to the goddess, and of how the goddess
has heard the speaker's pleas in the past. The speaker asks the goddess to come
again, reminding the goddess that she has heard her requests before and that
she has responded to these earlier petitions. The speaker offers flattery and
acknowledges that the goddess will once again need to leave the glory of Zeus's
palace of gold.
Stanza 3
In
the third stanza, the writer recalls past visits from the goddess when she was
needed. The speaker-poet provides a vision of how Aphrodite has previously made
the trip from her father's palace to this mortal's more humble home. The
goddess arrived in a chariot, a Greek word occasionally translated as a car
drawn not by winged horses, as one might expect, but by a flock of sparrows,
which represent fertility. The image of the sparrows is one of wings beating
furiously as they bring the goddess down from heaven and through the air until
she arrives on the darkened earth. The stanza helps to reinforce the idea that
the speaker and the goddess have a close relationship. This part also suggests
that the poet can expect assistance this time, as well.
Stanza 4
In
this next stanza, the goddess arrives. She is variously described, depending on
the translation, as sacred, blessed, heavenly, or immortal, and so once again
the goddess's power is acknowledged, in this instance within a description of
her features. In this fourth stanza, the goddess speaks, and so the dialogue
begins between speaker and the object of the prayer. Aphrodite asks the speaker
why she has been summoned. Whereas in many cases the translation offers only a
variation on the word with similar meanings, as in the case with the
differences in the first three stanzas, in stanza 4 the differences in
translation do suggest different meanings. Some translators ask the cause of
the speaker's "suffering"; others ask what new "complaints"
the speaker has to make. Other translations inquire as to the cause of the
speaker's "grief " or ask what the speaker's "distracted"
heart might need. The images suggested by these varying translations are
different, most notably in the connotative differences between a complaint and
suffering, since in the former the goddess suggests a less tolerant response.
However this line is interpreted, the result is the establishment of a dialogue
to address the speaker's needs.
Stanza 5
In
this fifth stanza, the goddess asks the speaker what she needs this time. Again
the repetitiveness of the speaker's request is recognized, and she is asked
what her lover needs to be persuaded to return on this occasion. Because
Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, she has the power to force a lover's
return, usually through trickery and deception. The phrasing of the goddess's
question "Who shall I persuade this time / to take you back, yet once
again" establishes that the speaker has had this problem in the past and
that the goddess has come to the forlorn lover's aid before. What was suggested
in stanza 2, when the speaker petitioned the goddess's help, is confirmed in
stanza 5. The problem is again love, as it has been in the past. The final line
of stanza 5 provides two unusual pieces of information. Although the speaker
has needed the goddess's assistance in the past, it is because she has been the
injured party in love. The goddess asks, "who wrongs you," and with
these words the reader learns that the speaker is deserving of Aphrodite's
help. She is the injured party, whom love has pained. The final word,
"Sappho," links the speaker and poet, and the speaker ceases to be an
abstract entity and becomes the poet persona, Sappho.
Stanza 6
In
the sixth stanza, the speaker recalls how the goddess has always promised her
aid when called upon. It becomes clear that the lover will not long escape.
Aphrodite promises that the one being pursued will soon enough become the
pursuer. There are two ways to read this section. In the first interpretation,
the speaker will soon enough be the one receiving the lover's gifts, and if she
is not loved now, the speaker will soon enough be the recipient of the love she
desires. The final line makes clear that the speaker's love will be returned no
matter what the lover desires. The lover cannot resist the goddess's power and
will be unable to assert her own will against that of the goddess. The second
possible meaning is based on the lack of specifics in Aphrodite's promise. It
is possible that the lover will come to love another, someone who will not
return her love, and thus she, too, will know the pain of unrequited love, just
as the speaker has come to know such grief. It is also clear in this stanza
that the desired lover is feminine. Early translations changed the feminine
Greek word ending to masculine, in an attempt to protect the reader from
possible homosexual allusions and in a desire to sanitize Sappho's work.
Current scholarship has returned the meaning to the poem, and the
identification of the object of love is now clearly defined as female.
Stanza 7
In
this final stanza, the speaker's voice again assumes control of the poem. The
poem ends with the speaker's now calmer voice. The plea for help is still present,
but the earlier anguish has been lessened since the speaker believes the
promise of past help will certainly lead to help again. The reader is also
reassured that the goddess's help will be forthcoming and the speaker's anguish
will be assuaged. The goddess is recognized as the speaker's ally in love.
Aphrodite will free the speaker of the pain of lost love and bring her all that
she desires. The poem, which began with an anguished plea, now ends on a more
optimistic tone. There is still pain and grief, but the speaker is no longer
alone in her grief. Her ally, Aphrodite, will come to the speaker's aid.
Comments
Post a Comment