![]() ![]() “Stained” implies destruction, while “caressed” implies tenderness.īy choosing to translate the word as “stained”, Carson suggests a reading that describes love as a hindering emotion to experience love leaves a person physically blemished. The two options for the translation are almost completely opposite from each other. However, Carson includes a note that begins to complicate this overwhelmingly negative connotation that comes from the text when she states, “depending on how the first letter of this word is restored it may mean also ‘having been touched on the surface, caressed’ or ‘having been tainted, defiled’” (360). This section seems to be acknowledging that the heart becomes “stained” when it (and the individual) encounters the experience of love. Speaking directly to the heart, Sappho states, “…would be for me…to shine in answer…face…having been stained” (11). Towards the beginning, the fourth of Sappho’s fragments alludes to the idea that in experiencing the emotion of love leads to a physical scarring. ![]() Sappho’s If Not, Winter, explores how the damaging nature of love both physically and emotionally effects an individual. ![]() Summary: Anne Carson’s translation of Sappho’s fragments, entitled If Not, Winter, offers various portrayals of human emotions including love and its effect on an individual. ![]()
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