A Diachronic Reading of Sappho fr. 16 LP

Abstract

A Diachronic Reading of Sappho fr. 16 LP* Hardy C. Fredricksmeyer For my dear mother, Gloria According to some recent scholarship, fr. 16 LP portrays Helen in an entirely positive light.1 She is seen as providing "a positive example of erotic self-fulfillment" and "a justification of [the poetic speaker's] passion for Anaktoria." "Sappho's Helen ... is held up as proof that it is right to desire one thing above all others." "Helen ... acted, pursuing the thing she loved, and for that action, Sappho celebrates her." "Helen is [the poetic speaker's] revered example of ... libido in action," and so on.2 These interpretations, while in some ways divergent, all understand fr. 16 LP to rate erotic desire as the highest value and to commend Helen for doing the same. Thus they contravene earlier scholarship, most of which takes one of three views: fr. 16 LP either censures the traditional figure of Helen as she is reflected in this poem, or censures Helen's elopement, though excusing Helen herself as overwhelmed by Aphrodite, or else censures neither Helen nor her elopement but also does not commend them.3 [End Page 75] These positive and negative (or at best neutral) interpretations seem to mirror changes in modern attitudes toward uxorial fidelity and women's roles in relation to others. Despite their differences, however, both sets of interpretations of Helen's character and actions share a "synchronic" perspective, by which I mean that they draw on all of the poem's images without regard for their sequential deployment in time. These synchronic approaches produce monolithic readings. Such readings, whether they censure or valorize Helen, cannot accommodate what I consider to be a contradictory deployment of the Helen myth in fr. 16 LP. There is a real desideratum in interpreting poetry such as Sappho's for "diachronic" approaches that treat images sequentially and thereby take into account the actual listening process: as the narrative unfolds the audience revises its interpretation of character and action while also anticipating what lies ahead.4 Sappho exploits the diachrony inherent in oral performance to manipulate audience expectations. Such a tactic is by no means confined to poetry designed for oral performance. Later authors exploit the reading process to achieve effects similar to those Sappho had achieved through oral performance. Sappho's legacy thus extends to Roman authors such as Horace, in whose poetry Nietzsche identified qualities that invite diachronic and recursive interpretations: This mosaic of words, in which every word by sound, by position and by meaning, diffuses its influence to right and left and over the whole [emphasis mine]; the minimum in compass and number of symbols, the maximum achieved in the effectiveness of those symbols.5 In this paper, then, and with reference to modern reception theory, I will consider how the key terms of Sappho fr. 16 LP progressively require re-readings of the Helen parable in stanzas two and three, and at the same time anticipate themes and diction whose subsequent realization or non-realization further shapes our interpretation.6 First, the poem: [End Page 76] Some say a company of horsemenIs upon the black earth,Others say it is a company of infantry,Yet others a fleet of ships, but I say it is whatever one desires. It is very easy to make this understoodTo all, since she who surpassed other humansIn beauty, Helen, deserted her husband,A most excellent man, And sailed off to TroyAnd forgot entirely her child and parents,But [ ]] led her astray. [End Page 77] ]] lightly [Reminds me now of Anaktoria,Who is absent. I would rather see her lovely walkAnd the radiant sparkle of her faceThan the Lydian chariots and infantryIn arms. In brief, I will argue that the first "reading" of the Helen parable is prepared for by the first stanza and the beginning of the second. These verses mark the object of one's erotic desire as and thus prepare the audience for a sympathetic treatment of Helen in the parable. This is to some extent realized. Further, with the completion of the parable we are invited to understand that the object of one's erotic...