To equate her feelings provoked by her intense feeling towards this woman to fire is to indicate the unrestrained, uncontrolled, and destructive nature of sexual desire towards a woman. The metaphor of fire is significant as fire is inherently violent and often uncontrollable. Sappho becomes overwhelmed with jealousy, describing her emotion watching the scene as “fire racing under skin / and in eyes no sight and drumming fills ears” (Sappho 63). In this poem, her love interest has a flirtatious conversation with a man. In her 31st fragment, Sappho describes violence as a product of a woman’s presence. Further, this dialogue with Aphrodite displays her view that her feelings towards women are inevitable and uncontrollable. This language implies an unpleasant ending as it leads the leader to believe that her relationship with the people who she loves - women - is likely to end badly, if not violently. A “lure,” as Sappho says, is a tool used in hunting to entice the victim into a trap so that it may be killed. The language used in this interaction displays her view that love is something which she has been tricked into. In the first fragment of “If Not, Winter,” she describes the goddess of love as “eathless Aphrodite of the spangled mind, / child of Zeus, who twists lures” (Sappho 3). Rather, her love with women is purely romantic in nature. From these factors, it can be inferred that Sappho does not love for the purpose of investing in her lineage or family line. She is somebody who is unable to procreate with the people to whom she is sexually attracted. * The definitive and ONLY complete translation of Sappho, by one of the world's greatest living poets Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.As a lesbian, Sappho provides a unique perspective on the role of women in Greek society.

The book brings us an ancient poet brought to life by an empathetic contemporary poet, and is complete with an introduction and notes. Her translation illuminates Sappho's reflections on love and desire, her companions and rivals, the goddess Aphrodite and her own daughter, Kleis.

Carson says of her method of translation: 'I like to think that, the more I stand out of the way, the more Sappho shows through'. In 'If Not, Winter', Carson presents all the extant fragments of Sappho's verse, employing brackets and white space to denote missing text - allowing the reader to imagine the poems as they were written. During her life on the island of Lesbos, Sappho is said to have composed nine books of lyrics. From poet and classicist Anne Carson comes this translation of the work of Sappho, together with the original Greek.

If not winter by sappho