Sappho
Keep love and he wingswith his bow,up, mocking us,keep love and he taunts usand escapes.
Keep love and he mocks,ah, bitter and sweet,your sweetness is more cruelthan your hurt.
Honey and salt,fire burst from the rocksto meet firespilt from Hesperus.
Could Eros be kept?he were prisoned long sinceand sick with imprisonment;could Eros be kept?others would have brokenand crushed out his life.
Ah, love is bitter and sweet,but which is more sweet,the sweetnessor the bitterness?none has spoken it.
Is it bitter to give backlove to your loverif he wish itfor a new favourite?who can say,or is it sweet?
Is it sweetto possess utterly?or is it bitter,bitter as ash?
I had thought myself frail;a petal,with light equalon leaf and under-leaf.
I had thought myself frail;a lamp,shell, ivory or crust of pearl,about to fall shattered,with flame spent.
I cried:“I must perish,I am deserted,an outcast, desperatein this darkness,”(such fire rent me with Hesperus,)then the day broke.
What need of a lampwhen day lightens us,what need to bind lovewhen love standswith such radiant wingsover us?
Words in this poem
- hesperus n.
- Venus when she is the evening star; Hesper. [L. See Hesper.]
- eros n.
- Love; the god of love; -- by earlier writers represented as one of the first and creative gods, by later writers as the son of Aphrodite, equivalent to the Latin god Cupid.
- outcast a.
- Cast out; degraded. [Cf. Sw. utkasta to cast out.]
- desperate a.
- Without hope; given to despair; hopeless. [L. desperatus, p. p. of desperare. See Despair, and cf. Desperado.]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sappho is in the public domain. This text is taken from Heliodora, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #62456; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: H.D., Sappho, in Heliodora, and Other Poems (1924), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #62456, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hd-heliodora/sappho-2.html, id L24312.
Form and metre
Sappho is 56 lines in 11 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 --AA- wings · bow · usA · usA · escapes
- 4 A--A-- keptA · since · imprisonment · keptA · broken · life
- 5 AA--- sweetA · sweetA · sweetness · bitterness · it
- 8 AAA- frailA · petalA · equalA · leaf
- 10 A-A---- criedA · perish · desertedA · desperate · darkness · hesperus · broke
- 11 -A---A lamp · usA · love · stands · wings · usA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Keep love and he wings | 5 | ····· |
| with his bow, | 3 | ··· |
| up, mocking us, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| keep love and he taunts us | 6 | ······ |
| and escapes. | 3 | ·˘/ |
| Keep love and he mocks, | 5 | ····· |
| ah, bitter and sweet, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| your sweetness is more cruel | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| than your hurt. | 3 | ··· |
| Honey and salt, | 4 | /˘·· |
| fire burst from the rocks | 6 | /˘···· |
| to meet fire | 4 | ··/˘ |
| spilt from Hesperus. | 5 | ··/˘˘ |
| Could Eros be kept? | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| he were prisoned long since | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| and sick with imprisonment; | 7 | ···˘/˘˘ |
| could Eros be kept? | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| others would have broken | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| and crushed out his life. | 5 | ····· |
| Ah, love is bitter and sweet, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| but which is more sweet, | 5 | ····· |
| the sweetness | 3 | ·/˘ |
| or the bitterness? | 5 | ··/˘˘ |
| none has spoken it. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Is it bitter to give back | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| love to your lover | 5 | ···/˘ |
| if he wish it | 4 | ···· |
| for a new favourite? | 6 | ······ |
| who can say, | 3 | ··· |
| or is it sweet? | 4 | ···· |
| Is it sweet | 3 | ··· |
| to possess utterly? | 6 | ·˘//˘˘ |
| or is it bitter, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| bitter as ash? | 4 | /˘·· |
| I had thought myself frail; | 6 | ····/· |
| a petal, | 3 | ·/˘ |
| with light equal | 4 | ··/˘ |
| on leaf and under-leaf. | 6 | ······ |
| I had thought myself frail; | 6 | ····/· |
| a lamp, | 2 | ·· |
| shell, ivory or crust of pearl, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| about to fall shattered, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| with flame spent. | 3 | ··· |
| I cried: | 2 | ·· |
| “I must perish, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| I am deserted, | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| an outcast, desperate | 5 | ·/·/˘ |
| in this darkness,” | 4 | ··/˘ |
| (such fire rent me with Hesperus,) | 9 | ·/˘···/˘˘ |
| then the day broke. | 4 | ···· |
| What need of a lamp | 5 | ····· |
| when day lightens us, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| what need to bind love | 5 | ····· |
| when love stands | 3 | ··· |
| with such radiant wings | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| over us? | 3 | ··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.