What are the themes and topics of Sappho's poetry?

The themes and topics of the poems penned by the ancient Greek poetess, Sapphos mainly focused on her personal issues, women, and love. She shied away from writing about Gods or contemporary politics, which were the usual topics of the era.

Sapphos ran a thiasos, which was type of school for young women. Many of her poems revolved around the workings of the group as they learned how to be ardent women. Her poetry...

The themes and topics of the poems penned by the ancient Greek poetess, Sapphos mainly focused on her personal issues, women, and love. She shied away from writing about Gods or contemporary politics, which were the usual topics of the era.

Sapphos ran a thiasos, which was type of school for young women. Many of her poems revolved around the workings of the group as they learned how to be ardent women. Her poetry spoke of passionate love and was filled with thoughts on how young women should prepare to be wives. Another prominent theme was how women relate to each other. Although she wrote many pieces of poetry, most of them were lost or destroyed. The “Hymn of Aphrodite," which emphasizes the virtues of womanhood, is the only complete poem that exists in its entirety.

Frequent images in Sappho’s poetry include flowers, bright garlands, naturalistic outdoor scenes, altars smoking with incense, perfumed unguents to sprinkle on the body and bathe the hair—that is, all the elements of Aphrodite’s rituals.

Some believe that her topics included lesbianism. The word is derived from the name of the island on which she lived.