Fragment 31

Many historians and literary critics believe “Fragment 31” is a classic example of a lyric poem. Sappho likely wrote this poem with the intention of performing it as a song accompanied by the lyre, a musical instrument. The stringed instrument was popular in ancient Greece and later classical periods, and the name of the instrument marks the origin of the word “lyric.”

Lyric poetry provides poets with the opportunity to describe intensely personal feelings in powerful detail. In “Fragment 31,” the poet expresses her feelings of passion and love for her beloved, as well as her reactions of  jealousy and insecurity when she sees her beloved talking with a rival. The lyricism of the poem is most present in the speaker’s descriptions of her  visceral reaction to this event, all of which emphasize the impact of the emotion on the speaker and her physical body. 

The repetition of sounds that marks the use of alliteration often creates a sense of flow and ease in a work of poetry; here, in “Fragment 31,” the repetition of the consonant “l” sound in the first two stanzas as the speaker “listens raptly / to your lilting