The lyric can be viewed as an effort to
‘objectify’ or ‘project’ inner life. But such ‘pro-
jection’ is possible only in terms of the rules of
language, and of one’s introspective relation to
himself. The question of rules of language, of
linguistic limitations upon pure self-expression,
is no less important than that of metaphysical (or
‘psychological’) limitations: ultimately the two
questions are closely related. The rules of lan-
guage, including not only the laws of grammar,
but that body of tropes and verbal habits which
constitute literary tradition, are deeply involved
with the laws or limitations of the inner life: the
inner life itself developing and ripening only in
terms of language. That which must be projected
is already unconsciously verbalized. Has the
lyric poet, then, any inner life, in some degree
independent of language, which he can project?
How closely do language and subjectivity, in this
case, come down to the same thing?
I content myself, in answer to this question,
with the notion that there are certain dramatic
tendencies in the poet which seek expression in
the words of his lyric. One form those tendencies
adopt is that of motion toward, away from, and
of different kinds. There is a kind of innerkinesis
in the psyche. The importance, in fact theraison
d’eˆtre, of thiskinesisis its power to dramatize
certain attitudes, or constellations of feelings.
Thus the inner drama of motion ‘upward’ will
often be associated with the notion (or attitude)
of spiritual ascension, and that of motion ‘down-
ward’ with the notion of spiritual descent, corrup-
tion. It is obvious that the association between
such felt inner patterns of movement, and
actual spiritual conditions—the psychologically
‘objective’—is imaginary. Such association has no
grounding in ‘physical’ reality. Motion upward has
nothingrealto do with spirituality. Yet the kind of
association involved here is a fact of the utmost
importance in the operation both of ordinary and
of ‘literary’ language. I turn my attention to the
way Sappho manipulates, in her verse, a pair of
these kinetic forces.
Motion ‘toward’ or ‘away from’ the presenter
of the poem is constantly important in the frag-
mentary remains of Sappho’s verse. This pattern is
closely related to her erotic temperament. A single
famous example ofstasis, arrested motion, will
introduce the point. Fr. 31.1–4 (Lobel-Page) goes
this way:
Beyond all heavenly fortune seems to me.
the man who sits facing you and listens
intimately to your sweet speech....
The nearness of ‘the man’... to Sappho’s
beloved is doubly emphasized by the use of both
‘facing’... and ‘near’... to describe his location.
The emphasis fits the poet’s double intention: to
express jealousy of the ‘nearness’ of ‘that man’ to
the beloved; and to contrast ‘the man’s’ presumed
ability to endure such radiant presence with Sap-
pho’s debility in that presence. ‘The man’s’ ‘loca-
tion,’ under the circumstances, is significant.
The amatory mood sustained by such treat-
ment of ‘location’ is often associated, by Sappho,
with motion toward the presenter of the poem.
Frequently such motion is given the form of a
‘conventional’ supplication of divinity, usually of
Aphrodite. (Supposedconventionality, that is: after
all, the tradition was to call upon divinity of the
Muse, as Homer did, tospeak, not to approach.)
Thus Sappho says, addressing Aphrodite (1.5–9):
But come to me, if ever in the past, at other
times,
You hearkened to my songs,
And harnessed the golden chariot, and left
Your father’s house and came to me.
Sappho really wants the goddess to come, as
the goddess has done before. Lines 9–13 of the
same fragment are devoted to fanciful, but in the
poetic context ‘real,’ former descents of Aphro-
dite to Sappho. The impression is tangibly cre-
ated that the poet is inviting real presence to near
her. This sense is reinforced by a return to the
invitation at the end of the poem. Sappho says
(25–6): ‘‘So come to me now, release me from
grievous care,’’ and, at the last (28), ‘‘and be my
ally.’’ Goddess, stand by my side.
In another poem Sappho makes such an
invitation, also to Aphrodite, even more tangi-
ble. This is no longer a verbal world in which the
poet simply wants ‘inspiration’ from the Muse.
The actual, always in terms of the literary illu-
sion, the presence of Aphrodite, is invited with aTHE IMPRESSION IS TANGIBLY CREATED
THAT THE POET IS INVITING REAL PRESENCE TO
NEAR HER.’’Fragment 2