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You said: sappho 31sappho 31
Sappho 31 is a famous ancient Greek lyric poem describing the intense physical and emotional symptoms of falling in love and jealousy. [[1](https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESXwHrOzAVsl5VO3fQ7hFhAnv9J88B0JZWpB-bNVitiEyjZoH7qk5UUO0SBdFhfUf7LHAvtUG3R8a9v_dViYsY5rIqOg0FqFKJzAsjpLE9lbISS6zJVBML8tPTcihvcCW4), [2](https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESZgHrOzAVjh5jkPpNhLwLuUZgLz11Had4rJQ-l4-Mw4EWbVKqiZSqC7ZHfnG76OULH7iBrO16FYV9jxfZd9i5B29t3TsG8-ouzYcbWQDiyR57DjN07z0JPwySLCjFGL8WCP2s6AOguQ)]
Overview of the Poem

* Author: [Sappho](https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESXwHrOzAVsl5VO3fQ7hFhAnv9J88B0JZWpB-bNVitiEyjZoH7qk5UUO0SBdFhfUf7LHAvtUG3R8a9v_dViYsY5rIqOg0FqFKJzAsjpLE9lbISS6zJVBML8tPTcihvcCW4) of Lesbos, written in the Archaic period around the 6th century BCE.
* Alternative Names: Known as phainetai moi ("It seems to me") or the Ode to Anactoria.
* Preservation: Survives mostly intact because a later ancient critic quoted it in the treatise [On the Sublime](https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESZgHrOzAVjh5jkPpNhLwLuUZgLz11Had4rJQ-l4-Mw4EWbVKqiZSqC7ZHfnG76OULH7iBrO16FYV9jxfZd9i5B29t3TsG8-ouzYcbWQDiyR57DjN07z0JPwySLCjFGL8WCP2s6AOguQ). [[1](https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESYwHrOzAVsL1spfayNDX-DHyFVpOix6c_yDpR8YeP1yVuPJPK9bngu8Iip-m6bsZ9H0JhqQlNNpNqqn05-bBdDsqaF4Pc89P7nyj73wbpJp9hgBekQVEetu1k4gd4ytZjhCHSVQ), [2](https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESkAEB6zswFUGxWgVPolPEXDryR761QROegu4ZSKZ9m2uGnOBBi4ifoROs-IXZU6GmUkzyZ7OB_gJyo49HDkFpgzQNtASmNgOO77Vm9OiCtevRzx48Uvhs95pXV67SleDlExAmP5f3quFwXyM2xO85VoZgGjtdt2yKDZ4nT4fIAl_DSKcb7XYrhmmgDqkQrdNVxfc), [3](https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESXwHrOzAVsl5VO3fQ7hFhAnv9J88B0JZWpB-bNVitiEyjZoH7qk5UUO0SBdFhfUf7LHAvtUG3R8a9v_dViYsY5rIqOg0FqFKJzAsjpLE9lbISS6zJVBML8tPTcihvcCW4), [4](https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESZgHrOzAVjh5jkPpNhLwLuUZgLz11Had4rJQ-l4-Mw4EWbVKqiZSqC7ZHfnG76OULH7iBrO16FYV9jxfZd9i5B29t3TsG8-ouzYcbWQDiyR57DjN07z0JPwySLCjFGL8WCP2s6AOguQ)]

What the Poem Describes

* The Scene: The speaker watches a man sitting close to a beloved woman, listening to her talk and laugh. [[1](https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESpQEB6zswFYu2PlRSZlkpwEjmf4_DotfaCkWoFTT9x_uwQcsk1Y8hmUNrNykmAkjKJsjd9oWgZgxaYtZzmX_jUr9MMSNBACMZESesOonGHNFIQvYsMIJrbBTCJOT5M2vkwQdrr2-vmd1FckQ7BJQ2MTe9R2dAVKvqoHfYC5VUcpsyLDtZ-eX3xW98YV5kNC7IHyFJlsVJlP6xc6f5wpQANe7eGZpY4lc), [2](https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESkAEB6zswFUGxWgVPolPEXDryR761QROegu4ZSKZ9m2uGnOBBi4ifoROs-IXZU6GmUkzyZ7OB_gJyo49HDkFpgzQNtASmNgOO77Vm9OiCtevRzx48Uvhs95pXV67SleDlExAmP5f3quFwXyM2xO85VoZgGjtdt2yKDZ4nT4fIAl_DSKcb7XYrhmmgDqkQrdNVxfc)]
* The Reaction: The speaker feels overwhelmed by a mix of jealousy, desire, and physical shock. [[1](https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESvwEB6zswFVWoGOU6IjtYlRvq_MkTQutXXK18dsGP2G-SPy0CC2ZtRCGfTkH-ZczpeFDtdbyRCzYxALBf5hF8de12B-kmeOOUFIiTtSi4kxV3v5me3MkOwnmLSaKGwsosB5RjjH5-SKIkcYSAvuo5uEkiAG_bcl3eBas6EyQsPZxk1aJUMgh4jki7aUFwE-0bPinnfkhCyg-cL8Vb4BYaNh7aQI6VWYCDWyZxPrTp2GPN2UIF45M4TyHRdpIjq_BUnA), [2](https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESZgHrOzAVjh5jkPpNhLwLuUZgLz11Had4rJQ-l4-Mw4EWbVKqiZSqC7ZHfnG76OULH7iBrO16FYV9jxfZd9i5B29t3TsG8-ouzYcbWQDiyR57DjN07z0JPwySLCjFGL8WCP2s6AOguQ)]
* The Symptoms: The poem famously lists bodily reactions like a racing heart, a silent tongue, ringing ears, cold sweat, and feeling close to death. [[1](https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESZgHrOzAVjh5jkPpNhLwLuUZgLz11Had4rJQ-l4-Mw4EWbVKqiZSqC7ZHfnG76OULH7iBrO16FYV9jxfZd9i5B29t3TsG8-ouzYcbWQDiyR57DjN07z0JPwySLCjFGL8WCP2s6AOguQ), [2](https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESpQEB6zswFYu2PlRSZlkpwEjmf4_DotfaCkWoFTT9x_uwQcsk1Y8hmUNrNykmAkjKJsjd9oWgZgxaYtZzmX_jUr9MMSNBACMZESesOonGHNFIQvYsMIJrbBTCJOT5M2vkwQdrr2-vmd1FckQ7BJQ2MTe9R2dAVKvqoHfYC5VUcpsyLDtZ-eX3xW98YV5kNC7IHyFJlsVJlP6xc6f5wpQANe7eGZpY4lc)]

If you'd like, I can share a full translation of the poem or discuss how later poets like Catullus adapted it.
Wikipedia
Sappho 31
Sappho 31 Sappho 31 is a lyric poem by the Archaic Greek poet Sappho of the island of Lesbos. The poem is also known as phainetai moi (φαίνεταί μοι lit. 'It see...
Literary Matters
Sappho 31 - Chris Childers - Literary Matters
Text: Chris Childers' translation of Sappho 31, a fragmentary ancient Greek poem famously quoted in the first- or third-century A.D. treatise On the Sublime by ...
The Slowdown
1185: Fragment 31 by Sappho, translated by Christopher Childers
He seems like the gods' equal, that man, who ever he is, who takes his seat so close across from you, and listens raptly to your lifting voice and lovely laught...
W. W. Norton & Company
TRANSLATION LAB: Sappho, Poem 31 - W.W. Norton
The poem describes the response of the speaker, a woman, to watching another woman talking to a man. (The grammar of the original Greek makes the gender of each...
EduBirdie
Sappho's Fragment 31: Jealousy, Desire, Longing
In this poem Sappho is completely overcome by the vision of the woman before her. She cannot speak, cannot see, she breaks into a sweat. It builds up in a clima...
YouTube·Octo
29:47
Read Ancient Greek: Sappho 31