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A review by pagesofmilkandhoney
The Complete Poems of Sappho by Sappho
3.0
What better book to finish off Pride month than the Complete Poems of Sappho, the World's Favourite Greek Lesbian? We should all be reading more Greek literature and poetry, and if we did, the world would be a much more desirable place. Passionate and full of deep love, Sappho's poetry makes you wonder how we ever shifted to a world where gay love was described as unnatural (organised religion, that's how). There is nothing more human than love for another. Probably not For Everyone, but for everyone anyway.
Organisational wise, I would probably have preferred the sections of this book to be rearranged. Having the Greek people and places glossary at the beginning rather at the end would be so much more useful. By reading it before reading any of the poetry, you might actually be able to identify some of the people that Sappho writes about. Of course, there's nothing stopping you from reading it first anyway, but no one jumps to the end of the book and reads that part first. I appreciated the sources, notes, and commentary section a lot, because I am a person that struggles to read older styles of writing, and having little explanations as to who and what is being referenced is immensely helpful in appreciating anything in general. However, I wish that it was intermingled with the poetry itself - having a poem immediately followed by notes and commentary is much easier than flipping back and forth between the beginning and end of the book - especially if you are reading an ebook. As it was, I skipped a lot of the commentary because of this, largely because it felt like I would have to go back and reread the entire poetry section again from start to finish.
Anyway, I'm glad I read this. Ancient Greece and Greek mythology in general is just impossibly cool and relatable, and the world needs it. I could go into so much more detail about how it affects our lives and language and knowledge about pretty much everything. But another time - for now, enjoy the lesbian love poetry.
Organisational wise, I would probably have preferred the sections of this book to be rearranged. Having the Greek people and places glossary at the beginning rather at the end would be so much more useful. By reading it before reading any of the poetry, you might actually be able to identify some of the people that Sappho writes about. Of course, there's nothing stopping you from reading it first anyway, but no one jumps to the end of the book and reads that part first. I appreciated the sources, notes, and commentary section a lot, because I am a person that struggles to read older styles of writing, and having little explanations as to who and what is being referenced is immensely helpful in appreciating anything in general. However, I wish that it was intermingled with the poetry itself - having a poem immediately followed by notes and commentary is much easier than flipping back and forth between the beginning and end of the book - especially if you are reading an ebook. As it was, I skipped a lot of the commentary because of this, largely because it felt like I would have to go back and reread the entire poetry section again from start to finish.
Anyway, I'm glad I read this. Ancient Greece and Greek mythology in general is just impossibly cool and relatable, and the world needs it. I could go into so much more detail about how it affects our lives and language and knowledge about pretty much everything. But another time - for now, enjoy the lesbian love poetry.