Sappho: Poems and Fragments Lesson Plan

Inspired by Sappho

Kind of Activity:

Creative Writing

Objective:

Students will use some of Sappho's shorter fragments to inspire poems of their own.

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.10, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4

Structure:

This Lesson Plan focuses on Sappho's longer fragments, but many of her recovered papyri contain only one or two remaining lines. Tell students that they will use these shorter fragments to inspire their own creative writing. Fragments 12, 24D, 25, 29 A & B, 36, 38, 45, 52, 54, 100, 107, 122, 123, and 152 are single-line fragments that are very evocative, with quotes like "in a thin voice," and "I would not think to touch the sky...