Sappho’s Poetry as Autobiography Sara Manlowe College

Sappho’s poetry in ‘If Not, Winter,’ is autobiographical firstly in the sense that anything anyone writes is autobiographical, as one’s narrative inclinations are very telling of that person’s focus and preoccupations; secondly in the sense that Sappho refers to herself by name, therefore making herself a character in her own work. She is defined as an artist by the emphasis she places on certain themes and imagery, and just as much by where she lets that imagery end, which is to say, what she conceals from her readers. Finally, there is the matter of concealment that was not a poetic choice but rather a consequence of time and history, as the majority of her songs have been lost, the papyri torn or worn away. We, as readers, are affected just as much by what is there as what is not, which is fair or unfair to the artist depending on the lens through which one views the missing, bracketed pieces of Sappho’s work.

Sappho, firstly, does not label her work ‘autobiography’ – indeed, if she labeled her work at all, we do not get to see it. As mentioned above, however, simply reading her words is a powerful indicator of how she felt, plus, by referring to herself in her poetry, she herself gives her work an autobiographical bent....