The poetical is the

political
Sappho poems
“ For women, poetry is not a luxury. It
is a vital necessity of our existence…
first made into language, then into
idea, an then into more tangible
action. (Poetry is the way we give
name to the nameless so it can be
thought. )
2
 Use diagrams to explain your
ideas
Different
oppressions

Consciousness
raising

Personal become
political

The poetical is
the political.

Liberal Radical
feminism. etc

Root and
strands of the
new feminism Range of
feminist issues.

3
Key points
 Poetry is the way we give name to the nameless.
 Consciousness raising, strong women
 The personnel became political. Pulic issues 76,78
 How poetry circulated easily

4
 Name to
nameless.
1 Homo sexuality.
Sappho being a homosexual
⊹ Sappho wrote poems in which she very explicitly
describes her sexual desires for other women
⊹ Title I have had not one word from her.

⊹ “I have had not one word from her

Frankly I wish I were dead.
When she left, she wept”

⊹ If you forget me, think

of our gifts to Aphrodite
and all the loveliness that we shared 6
 Consciousness
raising, the
2 concept of a
strong women
  Consciousness raising,
strong women
⊹ Sappho was a powerful woman in her time, and the characters
in her poems are as well. Aphrodite is depicted as capable of
forcing humans to do her bidding(Slay me not in this distress
and anguish / Lady of beauty." )She asks Aphrodite to compel
the unnamed lover to fall in love with her whether it is what
the lover wants or not. This is a type of domination and
control. Sappho demonstrates a desire to overpower a lover
who has hurt her. She implores Aphrodite to "be thou my
ally."

8
“ She that fain would fly, she shall
quickly follow,
She that now rejects, yet with gifts
shall woo thee,
She that heeds thee not, soon shall
love to madness,
            Love thee, the loth one!"
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 The personnel
3 became
political.
“ Personal experiences available to
political discussion
“while poetry is often thought of as a
pure expression of personal feelings, only
very bad poetry does that. Good poetry
make personal experiences available to
others by giving it an outward form. ”

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4 How poetry
circulated easily