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A Voice Restored: Louise Labé'S Impersonation Of Sappho, Phyllis Brown

English

Ever since the publication of her Œuvres in 1555, Louise Labé's name and poetic voice have been closely linked with the name, voice, and identity of the ancient Greek poet Sappho. Labé's contemporaries called her the "Sappho Lyonnaise," and Labé names and alludes to Sappho at several points in her writings. For example, in Labé's first elegy the persona specifies that Apollo has given her the lyre which was accustomed to sing about lesbian love and which would at the same time cry about hers.