Sappho's Poem 'Hymn To Aphrodite'
547 Words3 Pages
For the Want of Love
In Sappho’s extraordinary and personal poem, Hymn to Aphrodite, the reader can truly feel the emotions of Sappho reach across the ages and touch the hearts of today. The Hymn to Aphrodite is a song of personal transformation – one of emotion and spirit, rather than the metaphysical. Sappho’s lament of longing, desire, and release sings of her own emotional movement from the pain of losing love, to a pleading prayer for help, to the rise of hope, to the promise of love’s return, and to the joy of knowing fulfillment. In the midst of crushing heartache, Sappho implores the Goddess Aphrodite to leave her throne in the heavens and come to her aid. Sappho’s heart is rent from a lost love, and she prays for the Goddess of