Sappho Fragment 18
Like the sweet apple that reddens on the highest bough,
high on the highest bough, and the apple gatherers have
forgotten
it—
no, they have not forgotten it completely, but they could
not reach
it.
This fragment, from Carson’s point of view is bittersweet
because it touches on the good and bad parts of being in love. The sweet apple
represents the woman that Sappho is in love with. The sweet apple is the object
of desire. “Highest bough” means that the woman is somewhat out of her league.
Everyone wants to obtain her and they try to win her heart because they are in
love with her. The bitter part comes when the suitors cannot obtain what they
are in love with. Eventually, after trying to win the woman’s heart over, they
fail and eventually stop trying. It is not that they fall out of love with her,
but instead give up trying to get her because nothing seems to catch her
attention and win her over. Carson’s point of view of love being “bittersweet”
is clearly shown in this fragment since the women are in love but cannot obtain
their lover.
Archilochus Fragment 35-36
For such was the passion of love that coiled itself beneath
my heart
and poured
thick mist across my eyes,
robbing me of my tender senses.
In
wretchedness I lie here, gripped by longing,
lifeless, with bitter pain by the gods’ will
pierced
through the bones.
These two fragments also align with Carson’s view of
bittersweet. The first fragment refers to the sweet part of love. The line “and
poured thick mist across my eyes, robbing me of my tender senses”, shows how
deep in love Archilocus was with his ex-fiancé. He was so deeply in love with
her that the love overcame his entire body. His love for her preceded everything
else in his life, blinding him from reality. However, the second fragment refers
to the bitter part of love. Archilochus feels as though his life has lost
purpose without Neobule in his life because their engagement was called off. When
Archilochus says “bitter pain by the gods’ will pierced through the bones”, it
refers to how much he hurts because of the called of engagement. He feels like
he just got the life sucked out of him and that he is broken without Neobule in
his life.
These fragments from Sappho and Archilochus both tie in with
Carson’s view of love: that love is bittersweet There are positive and negative
aspects when it comes to being in love. Love is not something that can be
described as black or white but rather a mix of the two.
The analysis here is clear, though it could be aided by citations from Carson to make your case. The base-line of eros as lack, as bittersweet, is important but you need to follow what she builds on from it. In that regard, turn to the Sappho poem about the apple - what would you say about the shift at the end, from forgetting the apple to not being able to reach it? There's an important move there that you could tease out. A last point - be careful not to assume background details that aren't attested in the poem - do we know that "highest bough" means "out of her league" in the sense we understand it? To make that claim, it needs to be backed up a bit. Further, unless we know the Archilochus poem is about Neoboule, or it says so, we can't necessarily assume that it is. Good work though, as your analysis showed the appropriate level of reflection.
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