POETREE

jjhunter

Via comm member ysabetwordsmith, a piece of breaking poetry news too exciting to wait for the usual Sunday Picnic thread: Scholars Discover New Poems from Ancient Greek Poetess Sappho (The Daily Beast)

A chance inquiry by an unidentified collector has led to a spectacular literary discovery: Parts of two previously unknown poems by Sappho, the great Greek poetess of the 7th Century B.C. One of the poems is remarkably well preserved and adds greatly to what is known about Sappho and her poetic technique.

Note that the linked online ahead-of-print paper publishing the poem-bearing papyrus in question provides the Aeolic text in full at the end, but no corresponding English translation.

(If ever there was a situation warranting 'I HAVE AN ANCIENT GREEK TRANSLATION EMERGENCY FOR YOU', this is it. I'm afraid it's all Greek to me.)

For more about the poet Sappho, see the posts for our previous community themed week Fragments of Sappho. Sometimes, just sometimes, we do get back a grace more of what we'd thought history ate forever.

ETA: partial translation by Tim Whitmarsh available via the Guardian.