Great Regulars: Sappho and Phaon is generally thought

to be her major work. Sourced from Ovid's Heroides, the tale of Sappho's love for an unfaithful boatman is apocryphal. But it's a useful vehicle for [Mary] Robinson, enabling her to make her case for the right of women to live by the dictates of sexual passion. If this seems akin to the liberation-by-lap-dancing widely advocated today, Robinson's political seriousness is not in doubt. Though her lovesick Sappho rails at the futility of "reason" and "philosophy", elsewhere, Robinson argues eloquently for women's rationality and right to education.

from Carol Rumens: The Guardian: Books blog: Poem of the week: Sappho and Phaon by Mary Robinson

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