SOURCE: Rayor, Diane J. “Translating Fragments.” Translation Review, no. 32-33 (1990): 15-18.

In the following essay, Rayor explores some of the difficulties associated with translating Sappho's fragmentary poetic texts.

Since ancient poetry so often survives only in fragments, it would seem to present the translator with special problems not shared by those who translate complete texts. But although some of the problems are unique, the methods used to “solve” them are much the same. Yet focusing on the translation of fragments makes it easier to see the additions, subtractions, and changes that occur in all translations. The awkward loss of text exaggerates the ever-present temptation to “fix” a text rather than represent the poet's words—and the gaps between those words—accurately. Incomplete texts illuminate the criteria, strategies, tactics, and alternatives available for any rendering.

Quotations and papyri provide our only sources of ancient Greek lyric poetry. The quotations...