How many Sappho fragments are there?
According to ancient traditions, she wrote nine volumes of poetry. Sappho is said to have written two hundred pieces, but only two complete poems and about forty fragments have survived. Of these fragments, ten were found in the mid-19th century on the island of Lesbos, where it is believed that she lived out her life in modest circumstances. She may have been a slave or free woman. Fragments of Sappho's work have been found all over Greece, especially on Lesbos. But although many of them are very beautiful, none has been included in any collection of Sappho's poems until recently. In 1972, two scholars made an extraordinary discovery while cleaning up manuscripts in a library in Cambridge, England. They found several dozen more fragments of Sappho's work hidden away among the books for nearly 300 years. Since then, further discoveries have been made every year. Today, we know of over forty fragments of Sappho's poetry. Several of these pieces are large enough to be considered "songs." It is a long poem, probably intended to be sung to the music of a lyre. Sappho describes how much she loves Lady Love and hopes that she will be chosen by her to marry.