"The Sappho-An," 1735 or 1749 By Anonymous, Restored by Rictor Norton
Everything We Know About the Anonymous "Sappho-An"
"An Heroic Poem, Of Three Cantos. In the Ovidian Stile, Describing the Pleasures Which the Fair Sex Enjoy with Each Other. According to the Modern and most Polite Taste. Found amongst the Papers of a Lady of Quality, a great Promoter of Jaco[b]itism"
"The Sappho-An" is a satirical epic, in which the anonymous author fear-mongers men into believing they will all be replaced by women’s tongues and dildos of ivory.
However, it also is a lesbian erotica for men.
It is believed that Lady M- is Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689–1762).
The author is unknown, and though there is documentation from 1749, it was possibly written as early as 1735.
How to Understand This Epic
The author of "The Sappho-An" presents a call to arms to live a true marital love. The author believes in love that “nature” has intended, and not the queer or self-pleasing path. This poem lifts heavily and with force under the presumption that men and women were purely designed for compatibility. Any other love becomes “sins against its creation wrong.” Lesbian love goes against the “fibre” of humanity and that “Woman was made for man, so nature meant,” which disregards emotional connections that are different to the author’s conceptual understanding of their world. The author’s stark prediction that a woman’s love for another, though it may “glow with health and love,” would only “dwindle to decay.” This certainly does not hold true, which only furthers the importance of visibility of queer writing. In fact, feminists of this time argue that this represents their marriage norms, in which superficiality and convenience takes precedence over a love match.
Further Readings and Research
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1262300
Andreadis explores the presence and influence of Sappho, the ancient Greek poetess known for her homoerotic poetry, in early modern English literature. The book delves into the ways in which Sappho's work and persona were received and reinterpreted inEngland during the 16th to 18th centuries. Andreadis examines how Sappho's poetry and identity were used by English authors and poets, both male and female, to explore themesof same-sex desire and female eroticism. The book explores the cultural and literary contexts in which these interpretations emerged, including the constraints and opportunities that shaped how same-sex love and desire were depicted in early modern England.
I highly reccomend "The Macaroni Club: The Adulteress" (1773), William King's "The Toast" (1732), and “Monsieur Thing’s Origin” (1722) as well.