- Title
- A reading of Sappho poem 58, fragment 31 and Mimnermus
- Creator
- Johnson, Marguerite
- Relation
- The New Sappho on Old Age: Textual and Philosophical Issues p. 162-175
- Relation
- Hellenic Studies 38
- Relation
- http://chs.harvard.edu/wa/pageR?tn=ArticleWrapper&bdc=12&mn=3534
- Publisher
- Center for Hellenic Studies, Trustees for Harvard University
- Resource Type
- book chapter
- Date
- 2009
- Description
- Much has been written on the Sapphic gaze, primarily in relation to the representation of the various personae in her poems and fragment. I would like to address this subject as it relates to the poet's depiction of herself, or her artistic construct, with a focus on poem 58 and fragment 31, to illustrate what Eva Stehle defines as "poetry in and through which the gaze opens the self to disintegration, shifting position, identification with the other, or mirroring of the viewer's desiring self" (Stehle 1996:221). In addition to this feature of Sapphic poetic technique, I wish to consider further viable connections between the two pieces-specifically a similarity of theme (eros, germ and death) and one of artistic allusion (the poetry of Mimnermus). The results of this comparative study will hopefully shed some light on poem 58 in relation to an established fragment, fragment 31, as well as extend discussion of the latter piece-not only in terms of the themes of age and aging per se-but also in terms of the possibilities of the influence of Mimnermus, whose voice I suggest is not only audible in fragment 31 but in poem 58 as well.
- Subject
- Sapphic gaze; Mimnermus; Sappho; poetry
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/918179
- Identifier
- uon:8534
- Identifier
- ISBN:9780674032958
- Language
- eng
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