Hymn to Aphrodite Analysis
Sappho creates a plea to Aphrodite, calling on the goddess to assist her with her pursuit of love. Sappho creates a remembered scene, where Aphrodite descended from Olympus to assist her before: " as once when you left your father's/Golden house;
you yoked to your shining car your/wing-whirring sparrows;/Skimming down the paths of the sky's bright ether/ O n they brought you over the earth's black bosom,/ Swiftly--then you stood with a sudden brilliance,/ Goddess, before me" (6-12). Here, Sappho creates the "typical" scene of the intervention of the gods.
Initially, we do not know that the speaker is Sappho as the poem relates Aphrodite's prior interventions in love for the speaker. As the poem continues, the imagined dialogue with Aphrodite leads to Sappho revealing herself as a speaker, when she answers Aphrodite's question: "Who is now abusing you, Sappho? Who is Treating you cruelly?" (19-20). The past encounter reflects Saphho's prior experiences in love and Aphrodite intervention where Aphrodite "ease the pain of my frantic mind" (15).
The poem ends with a feeling of irresolution in love, the gifts have been rejected by Aphrodite, but with an hopefulness that her tributes to Aphrodite will grant Sappho her love's affections: "Gifts she now rejects--soon enough she'll give them" (22). The poem additionally creates a sense of love as a battle, with Sappho uttering her battle cry: "in all my battles/ Fight as my comrade" (31-32).
Powers of Persuasion:
The tone of the poem creates a forceful plea in the first stanza: "Don't--I beg you, Lady--with pains and torments/ Crush down my spirit"(3-4). The desperation of the poem is emphasized with the "pains and torments,"the cause of my anguish." "sooth the sting," and "the bitter care" which creates the speaker's state of mind as well as a presentation of unfulfilled desire and its impact that leads to the call on Aphrodite.
Initially, we do not know that the speaker is Sappho as the poem relates Aphrodite's prior interventions in love for the speaker. As the poem continues, the imagined dialogue with Aphrodite leads to Sappho revealing herself as a speaker, when she answers Aphrodite's question: "Who is now abusing you, Sappho? Who is Treating you cruelly?" (19-20). The past encounter reflects Saphho's prior experiences in love and Aphrodite intervention where Aphrodite "ease the pain of my frantic mind" (15).
The poem ends with a feeling of irresolution in love, the gifts have been rejected by Aphrodite, but with an hopefulness that her tributes to Aphrodite will grant Sappho her love's affections: "Gifts she now rejects--soon enough she'll give them" (22). The poem additionally creates a sense of love as a battle, with Sappho uttering her battle cry: "in all my battles/ Fight as my comrade" (31-32).
Powers of Persuasion:
The tone of the poem creates a forceful plea in the first stanza: "Don't--I beg you, Lady--with pains and torments/ Crush down my spirit"(3-4). The desperation of the poem is emphasized with the "pains and torments,"the cause of my anguish." "sooth the sting," and "the bitter care" which creates the speaker's state of mind as well as a presentation of unfulfilled desire and its impact that leads to the call on Aphrodite.