5 Ancient Greek Poems That Could Literally Be Tweets
Right now, we’re isolated. Our lives literally depend on it. It seems like a dark thing, that we’re all cornered off into our own worlds and have been for a year now—but it has surprisingly led to something good. For the first time in a long time, we all crave the same thing: to feel less alone. Every day, thousands and thousands of people log onto their social platforms of choice, whether it be TikTok, Instagram, or Twitter. Every day, people empathize with certain gripes and complaints aired out on said platform. Twitter, specifically, is known for catapulting doomsday-esque tweets into the viral sphere.
In more traditional times, this action of publicly complaining was not as easily shared worldwide, but it was not unknown. Ancient Greek poet Sappho was often known for circulating poems about her love life, family drama, and even quarrels with the gods. She was no stranger to talking trash. Sappho’s poetry was so profoundly relatable (and popular for exactly that reason) that even thousands of years later, we have solid translations of her texts. So, here’s 5 Sappho poems that could literally be tweets today, in 2021.
“Day in, day out
I hunger and
I struggle”
For context, Sappho had a reverse rags-to-riches story. You know, exiled from her island for a few years due to traitorous crimes against a tyrannical king. Normal things. But you can’t tell me this wouldn’t be an excellent tweet. Especially now, considering most of us are either unemployed, barely employed, or waiting impatiently for our stimulus check. Living through an economic crisis? I never thought I’d get to check that off of my quarter-life bucket list goals.
“Experience shows us
Wealth unchaperoned
by Virtue is never
an innocuous neighbor”
It’s still “eat the rich” time—right? Well, I guess we weren’t the first ones to notice that egregious wealth harbored by the amoral capitalistic business vultures of the world can lead to some pretty shady business. Send tweet.
“Yes, it is pretty
But come, dear, need
you pride yourself
that much on a ring?”
For more context: Sappho was a lesbian. If you’ve ever heard the word “sapphic” used in a sentence, well… now you know why and what it means. I mention this only because it was not so out-of-pocket for her to be loudly questioning heterosexual norms, even before said heterosexual norms became articulated with modern terms.
But if we’re talking social movements from this past year, we can talk about how normalized it has become across at least a couple generations (Millennial and Gen Z, looking at you) to skip the whole frilly wedding song and dance. Maybe it’s because we’re poor. Maybe it’s because our generations have become a little too connected with each other. Or maybe it’s because we finally realized that love cannot be defined or hinged upon a gem that is literally just pressed coal.
“You may forget but
Let me tell you
this: someone in
some future time
will think of us”
This one is just sweet. We’ve probably all had one or two romantic moments in our life that we look back on and think that it was kind of a rom-com moment. In moments like those, you want to immortalize it, no matter how fleeting. That’s what Sappho did best. We could all use a little love right now.
“Tell me
Out of all
mankind, whom
do you love
Better than
you love me?”
This poem is a personal favorite, but hello? This confidence? It’s giving us “tough girl” energy. It’s giving us a “rightfully narcissistic” aura—it’s everything. Despite our ups and downs, this is the vibe. Knowing what you’re worth, knowing that you are inexplicably irreplaceable? Well, I wouldn’t trade that feeling for the world. It’s also knowing that it’s not a competition with everyone else when it comes to capturing someone else’s affection. It’s about just knowing that no one can do you better than you do, and that is exactly what makes you special.
I could tell you everything is going to get better soon, but honestly? I don’t know that. I’m in credit card debt, freezing because my heat is busted and painfully lover-less. But what I can do is show you that even 2,000 years ago, none of the things we currently feel or experience are new. This moment that we’re living in—while extremely agonizing—will pass. One of these days, anyway.
All poems were taken from the Mary Barnard translation of Sappho’s collection, which you can find here