Laurel · Sappho

Sappho: Selected Renderings

Sappho (630 BC–570 BC), translated by Various (ed. H. T. Wharton) · 1908

Mostly iambic tetrameter · 203 lines in 39 sections

Thirty-nine fragments of Sappho in the English verse renderings that Henry Thornton Wharton collected, by Ambrose Philips, J. A. Symonds, Frederick Tennyson, Edwin Arnold, Michael Field and others, with his Greek.

Measured across the book

Across its 203 lines, 96% of stressed syllables fall on the beat (95% interval 94% to 97%). Alliteration runs at 1.14 times what shuffling the words would give (0.32 observed against 0.28 expected). 16% of the lines have a feminine ending.

Baselines and intervals are described in the methods.

Contents

Fragment 1, tr. Ambrose Philips (1711)iambic tetrameter · AABBCC · 42 lines Fragment 2, tr. Ambrose Philips (1711)iambic tetrameter · AABB · 16 lines Fragment 3, tr. J. H. Merivaleiambic tetrameter · 6 lines Fragment 4, tr. J. H. Merivaleiambic tetrameter · ABAB · 4 lines Fragment 5, tr. Anon. (Edinburgh Review) (1832)iambic tetrameter · ABCBCA · 6 lines Fragment 17, tr. Frederick Tennysoniambic tetrameter · 3 lines Fragment 26, tr. Thomas Mooreiambic tetrameter · AABCCB · 6 lines Fragment 27, tr. Michael Field (1889)iambic tetrameter · 4 lines Fragment 28, tr. Anon. (Edinburgh Review) (1832)iambic pentameter · 6 lines Fragment 38, tr. M. J. Walhouseiambic tetrameter · 2 lines Fragment 40, tr. J. Addington Symonds (1883)iambic tetrameter · 3 lines Fragment 42, tr. Frederick Tennysoniambic tetrameter · 2 lines Fragment 52, tr. J. H. Merivaleiambic tetrameter · 4 lines Fragment 54 with 53, tr. M. J. Walhouseiambic tetrameter · 6 lines Fragment 60, tr. Frederick Tennysoniambic tetrameter · 2 lines Fragment 63, tr. Michael Field (1889)iambic tetrameter · AABB · 4 lines Fragment 64, tr. J. A. Symondsiambic tetrameter · 2 lines Fragment 68, tr. Felton (Wharton prints a query)iambic tetrameter · AABB · 8 lines Fragment 69, tr. unsigned in Whartoniambic tetrameter · 4 lines Fragment 70, tr. unsigned in Whartoniambic tetrameter · 4 lines Fragment 78, tr. J. H. Merivaleiambic tetrameter · AABB · 8 lines Fragment 81, tr. J. H. Merivaleiambic tetrameter · 2 lines Fragment 85, tr. J. H. Merivaleiambic tetrameter · AABB · 6 lines Fragment 88, tr. Michael Field (1889)iambic tetrameter · 3 lines Fragment 90, tr. Thomas Mooreiambic tetrameter · 4 lines Fragment 91, tr. Anon. (Edinburgh Review) (1832)iambic tetrameter · ABAB · 4 lines Fragment 93, tr. F. T. Palgrave (1854)iambic tetrameter · 7 lines Fragment 94, tr. Edwin Arnold (1869)iambic tetrameter · 2 lines Fragment 95, tr. Edwin Arnold (1869)iambic tetrameter · AABB · 4 lines Fragment 99, tr. Frederick Tennysoniambic tetrameter · AABB · 5 lines Fragment 101, tr. Felton (Wharton prints a query)iambic tetrameter · 2 lines Fragment 109, tr. J. H. Merivaleiambic tetrameter · AABB · 4 lines Fragment 118, tr. R. (so signed)iambic pentameter · AABB · 6 lines Fragment 119, tr. Sir Charles A. Eltoniambic tetrameter · AABB · 4 lines Fragment 120, tr. Sir Charles A. Eltoniambic tetrameter · 4 lines

Fragment 6, tr. J. A. Symonds (1883)

If thee Cyprus, or Paphos, or Panormos.

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Fragment 18, tr. J. A. Symonds (1883)

Me but now Aurora the golden-sandalled.

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Fragment 136, tr. Frederick Tennyson

In the home of the Muses 'tis bootless to mourn.

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Fragment 153, tr. Frederick Tennyson

The solemn Dawn.

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About this text

Public domain. Text from Sappho: Memoir, Text, Selected Renderings, and a Literal Translation (ed. Henry Thornton Wharton, John Lane, 1908, fifth edition), Project Gutenberg ebook #57390. Free to read, print, copy and reuse.

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