Women Poets in Ancient Greece and Rome

by Greene

Although Greek society was largely male-dominated, it gave rise to a strong tradition of female authorship. Women poets of ancient Greece and Rome have long fascinated readers, even though much of their poetry survives only in fragmentary form.

This pathbreaking volume is the first collection of essays to examine virtually all surviving poetry by Greek and Roman women. It elevates the status of the poems by demonstrating their depth and artistry. Edited and with an introduction by Ellen Greene, the volume covers a broad time span, beginning with Sappho (ca. 630 b.c.e.) in archaic Greece and extending to Sulpicia (first century B.C.E.) in Augustan Rome. In their analyses, the contributors situate the female poets in an established male tradition, but they also reveal their distinctly “feminine” perspectives. Despite relying on literary convention, the female poets often defy cultural norms, speaking in their own voices and transcending their positions as objects of derision in male-authored texts. In their innovative reworkings of established forms, women poets of ancient Greece and Rome are not mere imitators but creators of a distinct and original body of work.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, History, Literary Criticism

260 pages, Paperback

First published June 20, 2005

Reviews

[l]

I liked the essays on Sappho, Sappho vs Erinna, Nossis, Sulpicia, and Anyte.

[Mariana]

This collection of essays is a must read for anyone interested in the poetry of ancient women, and more than anything for any philologist, since they are the ones who tend to forget that women did, in fact, have a voice.
The erroneous idea of the poetry of women like Sulpicia or Sappho as something entirely romantic, youthful, immature is deeply discussed here. In this book we have some very illuminating texts on how the poetry of female authors was not only powerful and beautiful, but also political, social, and community. Women like Sappho spoke two languages, the public and the intimate, and their poems should be studied more seriously. Parker, for example, has a wonderful essay on the power of Sappho poetry and its political and ethical role beyond the romantic one, as well as an analysis of how the historical figure of Sappho really was much more than a young woman who wrote verses, closer to a lady of great power and intelligence. These essays do not seek to eliminate the concept of the feminine approach, it would actually disempower these poems, but they do seek to demonstrate that this feminine approach was involved in more realms than just love.
Especially interesting are the analysis of Erina and her Distaff as well as that of Safo and Sulpicia and her fragments, studying them from a fair perspective and outside the male sphere is what allows the academic and reader to understand the power they really have.

[Mela Noura]

This collection makes ancient women poets feel surprisingly close. Sappho is naturally at its centre, but the real pleasure lies in encountering the less familiar voices and seeing how differently they handle desire, marriage, mythology, grief, and the female body.
The essays are especially good when they show these poets working within literary conventions while quietly bending them to their own purposes. What survives is often frustratingly incomplete, yet the fragments rarely feel lifeless. There is wit, sensuality, anger, vulnerability, and considerable artistic control here.
A valuable collection for anyone interested in what ancient women actually wrote, rather than merely what men wrote about them.