17 pages • 34 minutes read
SapphoFragment 31
Fiction | Poem | Adult | BCEA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Body Parts
The speaker of the poem emphasizes the connection that exists between the emotions of her heart and mind and the speaker’s awareness of her body with the motif of body parts. As the speaker catalogs the impact of her emotions on her body, she grounds herself by taking note of how she is feeling physically as she watches her beloved interact with the man. The first of the many body parts she mentions is her “heart in my ribcage” (Line 6); as the speaker listens to her beloved’s voice, talking and laughing, she fills with love and passion that set her heart “fluttering” (Line 6). As soon as the speaker looks at her lover, however, she realizes that the godlike man has distracted her beloved, and as a result, a new and anxiety-provoking distance grows between the speaker and her beloved.
The mentions of body parts that follow the speaker’s moment of despairing recognition all convey the sense of isolation that results from this emotional and psychological separation from her beloved: Her “tongue stiffens into silence” (Line 9), her “skin” (10) feels as if it is on fire, her “ears” (Line 11) ring with the noise of fear and jealousy, and her “eyes go dark” (Line 12). The speaker’s silence and her inward focus on her internal goings-on contrast with the ease of conversation between the godlike man and the beloved; their growing closeness emphasizes the speaker’s loneliness and despair.
The appearance of two bodily fluids, blood and sweat, emphasizes the strength of the shock the speaker experiences in this moment as she observes her beloved interact with the man. Blood “booms in my ears” (Line 11), refers to the speaker’s racing pulse that is responding to the emotional threat of the godlike man. The brightness of the image of blood contrasts with the muted image of the speaker’s eyes that “go dark” (Line 12), as if a light has been extinguished—another metaphor for death. The sense of isolation that the speaker feels in response to her jealousy portends the loneliness of death, mentioned in the final line of the poem, which the speaker feels must be “very near” (Line 16). As the speaker’s body parts break down, she feels that only death awaits her in a future so suddenly bleak.
Summer Grass
In the poem’s penultimate line, the speaker compares her body to “summer grass” (Line 15). She describes her physical being as “sallower” (Line 14) than the yellowing grass that dries out during the hottest months of the year. The grass represents the speaker’s hopes and dreams for the future with her beloved; summer grass dries out and yellows in the heat in the absence of the nourishing effects of life-giving moisture. The grass’s loss of vitality parallels the speaker’s own weakness as she feels death approaching.
The seasons that follow summer are fall and winter, which are times of the year that represent decline, despair, and eventually, death. By comparing her body to the grass that grows sallow in the summer months, the speaker acknowledges the emptiness of her future as the spring, the time of rejuvenating rainfall and new life, has passed. She has only autumn and winter, or death, to look forward to, and she acknowledges the nearness of death as she senses her life energy drifting away.
Silence and Noise
The paradoxical motif of noise and silence traces the effect of the conversation that takes place between the speaker’s beloved and the man, contrasting with speaker’s own silence while she confronts her pain and self-doubt. The speaker’s beloved speaks in a voice that is “lilting” (Line 4), punctuated by “lovely laughter” (Line 5). In contrast, the speaker “can’t say a thing” (Line 8) as her “tongue stiffens into silence” (Line 9). The speaker’s silence is sudden and uncomfortable, and is followed by her bodily breakdown. She notices that her power of speech is the first to go when her heart begins to race, and soon, “blood booms” (11), breaking her internal silence.
The emphasis on the speaker’s physical silencing parallels a cognitive loss that takes place at the same time. The sudden disappearance of the speaker’s mental processes as she responds to this crisis is represented by the silence of her tongue. No communication can take place because the speaker is overwhelmed by her desire for her beloved, and therefore, speechless. The tremor she experiences in the final stanza of the poem, as her “body shakes” (Line 14) is also a quietly disturbing experience for the speaker, as only she is aware that it means that death is approaching.
