SAPPHIC • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Sapphic

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adjective

Sapphic adj.

Of or pertaining to Sappho, the Grecian poetess; as, Sapphic odes; Sapphic verse.

(Pros.) Belonging to, or in the manner of, Sappho; said of a certain kind of verse reputed to have been invented by Sappho, consisting of five feet, of which the first, fourth, and fifth are trochees, the second is a spondee, and the third a dactyl.

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Etymology of 'Sapphic'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Sapphic" Quotes from Famous Books

... the moulds in which Horace cast his lyrical and his satirical thoughts were broken at his death. The style neither of Persius nor of Juvenal has the faintest resemblance to that of their common master. Statius, whose hendecasyllables are passable enough, has given us one Alcaic and one Sapphic ode, which recall the bald and constrained efforts of a modern schoolboy. I am sure he could not have written any two consecutive stanzas of Horace; and if he ...

— Horace • Theodore Martin

... ex-amateur director of a winter theatre; Lord Flute, an amateur director of the Opera, whose family motto, by a lucky coincidence, is 'Opera non Verba.' There were, moreover, Mr. Highsole, a great tragedian, and my friend Tom Sapphic, the dandy poet; one of those bores, the 'Lions' of the season. He had just brought out a new tragedy, called the 'Bedlamite in Buff,' under the auspices of Lord Skimcream; and it had been received, as the play-bills announced, ...

— Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II. • Pierce Egan

... is following Euridice, Orfeo enters upon the scene with a Latin ode in Sapphic metre in honour of Cardinal Gonzaga. A note informs us that this was originally sung by 'Messer Braccio Ugolino, attore di detta persona d' Orfeo.' In place of this ode the revised text contains a long 'Coro ...

— Pastoral Poetry and Pastoral Drama - A Literary Inquiry, with Special Reference to the Pre-Restoration - Stage in England • Walter W. Greg

Words linked to "Sapphic" : rhythmical, lesbian, Sappho, rhythmic