Sappho’s poetry helps readers understand desire
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Anne Carson, a writer, used fragments of poetry by the ancient Greek poet Sappho as a starting point for her book Bitter-Sweet Eros.
Carson explored how people understood desire two thousand years ago, drawing on Sappho’s work to express passion, love, and obsession. Carson’s book, published in 2022 by LUD Literatura, investigates eros as a powerful force combining pleasure and pain. She found that, according to sources from Homer and Plato onward, eros is often a destructive force.
However, Carson notes that eros fades quickly once fulfilled, thriving on its own impossibility. The author connected with Sappho’s verse while researching how ancient people experienced love. A line from Sappho, "Again Eros shakes me, loosening my limbs, bitter-sweet beast", resonated with Carson’s own exploration of the topic.
