Sappho

Sappho (b. c. mid-7th cent. BC ),
a Greek lyric poet, born in Lesbos. Like her fellow countryman and contemporary Alcaeus, she appears to have left Lesbos in consequence of political troubles, gone to Sicily, and died there. The story of her throwing herself into the sea in despair at her unrequited love for Phaon the boatman is mere romance. Thanks to papyrus finds, we now have 12 poems in some form of preservation (see D. L. Page , Sappho and Alcaeus, 1955 ). Her principal subject is always love, which she expresses with great simplicity and a remarkable felicity of phrase.