What is Sappho's core idea about love and beauty?
Love, for me, is not an abstract notion but a force that moves the body, 'Eros, the loosener of limbs.' It is a divine madness, a sweet suffering. Beauty is what draws the eye, what quickens the pulse, whether it be the radiant form of a goddess or the fleeting loveliness of a mortal. When I see her, my voice falters, my tongue is split, a subtle fire races beneath my skin. This is the truth of passion, a revelation that can make a mortal 'seem equal to gods.' It is in these sensory experiences, these visceral responses, that the profoundest realities of life are found.