Sappho: A New Rendering


Read by Libby Gohn

(4.7 stars; 36 reviews)

Sappho lived in the Greek-speaking Aeolian islands off the coast of Turkey. She is one of the very few female poets from antiquity. Although her work was very popular in ancient Greece and Rome, only small fragments survive today. This book includes translations of these fragments, as well as a poem from Ovid's Heroides, "Sappho to Phaon," a fictional letter from Sappho to her assumed lover. (Summary by Libby Gohn) (0 hr 35 min)

Chapters

Introduction and Foreward 6:26 Read by Libby Gohn
Fragments 1-10 4:32 Read by Libby Gohn
Fragments 11-20 3:12 Read by Libby Gohn
Fragments 21-30 3:21 Read by Libby Gohn
Fragments 31-40 2:35 Read by Libby Gohn
Fragments 41-53 3:50 Read by Libby Gohn
Sappho to Phaon 11:39 Read by Libby Gohn

Reviews

Sappho - Read by Libby Gohn


(5 stars)

Though what we have here of Sappho's writings is loaded with gaps, Libby Gohn does a great job of reading what of those writings she has. I give Sappho: A New Rendering five stars.

Beautiful


(5 stars)

Sappho is timeless. The reading is perfect. I'm falling in love all over again with this Greek goddess.

good book well read


(5 stars)

good book, well read

A Treasure.


(4 stars)

I am not good at writing reviews as I just sit and let the words wash over me and these fragments, beautifully read, just touched me to my inner core and when finished wanting more.


(4 stars)

I'm not very into poetry, but this was good and well read. It's a shame so little remains of her work.

Well read, but difficult to recommend


It’s hard to like Sappho. I know, I know, I’m being horrible. She’s an early feminist icon and she was a great poet and all of that sort of thing, but we have only one poem of hers in complete form, and the rest of the fragments have been so deeply mined by other poets that its hard to see where she’s being original. Sure, the first time someone said that moonlight was like silver that was mindblowing stuff…and it may well have been her, but her metaphors are tired now, and her work is so fragmentary that I can’t see it as more than the leftover choppings of the Romantic poets. A great read, but hard to find an audience to recommend it to.