Sappho was an ancient greek poet, born on the island of lesbos. her birth was sometime between 630 and 612 bc, and it is said that she died around 570 bc, but little is known for certain about her life. the bulk of her poetry, which was well-known and greatly admired throughout antiquity, has been lost, but her immense reputation has endured through surviving fragments. the adjectives deriving from her name and place of birth (sapphic and lesbian) came to be associated with female homosexuality. [that is because the subject-I] of many of her poems speak of infatuations and love (sometimes requited, sometimes not) for various females, but descriptions of physical acts between women are few and subject to debate. Whether these poems are meant to be autobiographical is not known, although elements of other parts of Sappho’s life do make appearances in her work, and it would be compatible with her style to have these intimate encounters expressed poetically, as well. (from wikipedia)
here comes her probably most famous poem, expressing sappho’s emotion in front of a beloved young girl:
I
Peer of the gods, the happiest man I seem
Sitting before thee, rapt at thy sight, hearing
Thy soft laughter and they voice most gentle,
Speaking so sweetly.
II
Then in my bosom my heart wildly flutters,
And, when on thee I gaze never so little,
Bereft am I of all power of utterance,
My tongue is useless.
III
There rushes at once through my flesh tingling fire,
My eyes are deprived of all power of vision,
My ears hear nothing by sounds of winds roaring,
And all is blackness.
III
Down courses in streams the sweat of emotion,
A dread trembling o'erwhelms me, paler than I
Than dried grass in autumn, and in my madness
Dead I seem almost.
other poems can be read here.
so, coming back to the 21st century, this section is devoted to L-icons or outed lesbians who make our L-culture.
