Sappho as Aphrodite’s Singer, Poet, and Hero(ine): The Reconstruction of Context and Sense of the Kypris Song

This contribution argues that the Kypris Song somehow represents the quintessential poetics of love. Through its self-reflective and religiously charged message, it reflects Sappho’s anthropological, ritual, and proto-philosophical pronouncement of the leading principle which guides her entire performance production. Like a motto, it bestrides general law and a very personal story of affection, passion and rationality, tackling both overwhelming affliction from external forces and the inner strife to maintain control over her extreme physical symptoms through self-awareness and a pure mind. This paper provides a brief analysis of the structure, texture, and meaning of the Kypris Song. First, it presents some recent reconstructions and addresses their problematic hermeneutical presuppositions in a monodic performance setting. Second, it develops some hypotheses regarding the original choral performance occasion as well as secondary reperformance contexts, and third, it elaborates thoughts on the metapoetic relevance of this song. Sappho’s audience envisages her body pierced and transfixed, and associates her with a heroic existence in an antagonistic relation to Aphrodite. Thus Aphrodite somehow becomes a reflection of a heroic Sappho. The image of the hero(ine) and Sappho merges through the performance of kleos and love, the medium and essence of Sapphic song.