3. "I" and "We" in Sappho and Other Early Greek Poetry
There is one formal feature that can throw some more light on the possible speaker of Sappho's fragments: the use of the first-person singular or plural. It is often assumed that "I" and "we" are interchangeable in archaic Greek poetry, but the situation is in fact not as simple as that. The latest studies of the Homeric language suggest that single characters normally use a first-person singular in referring to themselves, and that instances in which they use a first-person plural are to be explained as indications that they somehow want to include one or more other persons.[52] This is the case both with the individual heroes and with the poet himself.[53]
The same holds true for the archaic Greek poets. Maarit Kaimio, who examined the use of the first person in tragic choruses, mentions three different ways in which a single poet or performer can revert to a first-person plural: to include the person addressed, to include a third person, or to include a larger group (for example the state or the whole of humanity).[54]
[52] Chantraine, Grammaire homérique 2:33-34; Schwyzer and Debrunner, Griechische Grammatik 243-44, contra Wackernagel, Vorlesungen 1:98 f. Notable exceptions are the possessive pronouns, which I will therefore leave out of consideration. See also Benveniste, "Relationships of Persons in the Verb" 201 f., on the use of the first-person plural in general.
[53] E.g., Il . 2.486 (all mortals), Od . 1.10 (poet and his public); cf. Chantraine, Grammaire homérique 2:34.
[54] Kaimio, The Chorus 30, lists five exceptions, all of which in my opinion can be explained: Solon 7.6 Diehl (= 19.6 West) and Xenophanes 2.12 Diehl (= 2.12 West) are instances of possessive pronouns (see n. 52 above); Anacreon frs. 357 and 395 are indeed troublesome cases, but "us" in fr. 357.6 can be explained as encompassing the poet and Kleoboulos (or even the whole of humanity), while in fr. 395-1 Anacreon may be suggesting that not only his own hair is turning gray but that of his audience as well. The final exception Kaimio mentions is Sappho fr. 121, but this may actually be a choral song. Stobaeus, who cites the fragment, says that it refers to the relative ages of marriage partners and it is possible that the fragment is derived from a wedding song. In any case, it is highly unlikely that Sappho spoke this fragment "in her own voice."
Choral poets, on the other hand, use the first-person plural as well as the first-person singular to refer to the group as a whole. A quick glance at the evidence shows that they actually use the first-person singular more often than the first-person plural: Alcman's partheneion fragment 3 has only first-person singulars (nine in total), in fragment 1 in the majority of cases. This is also true for the remains of Pindar's partheneia, paeans, and dithyrambs (Paean 6.128 is an exception). In tragedy, according to Kaimio, there is also a preponderance of the use of the first-person singular in self-references of the chorus. This use of the first-person singular by a chorus can be explained in several ways: the chorus is perceived as one body, or each of its members is believed to be speaking for him- or herself, or the first-person singular represents the experiences of another person (e.g., Sappho) with whom the chorus identifies itself.[55]
In other words, where the number of speakers is concerned, the first-person plural is marked and the first-person singular unmarked in archaic Greek poetry.[56] A first-person singular can refer to a soloist or a chorus in virtually all circumstances, but a first-person plural only to a chorus or a soloist who wants to include others. It is therefore possibly revealing to study the use of the first-person plural in Sappho's poems. In fragments 27 and 30 (two wedding songs) and fragment 140a.1 (the hymn for Adonis) the speaker refers to itself with a first-person plural and is therefore, most likely, a chorus. By analogy, fragments 6, 19, and 121 are probably spoken by a chorus as well. Fragments 5, 21, 24a, 38, 147, and 150 are either spoken by a chorus or by a soloist (not necessarily Sappho) who wants to include one or more other persons.
Among the major fragments in Sappho's corpus there are two that make extensive use of first-person plurals: 94 and 96. In fragment 96 (a song for Atthis about a woman in Lydia), the study of the first-person speaker can be combined with an examination of the situation described in the poem. Before taking a closer look at this poem we must determine, however, where exactly it ends. Some scholars have suggested that the poem ends at line 20,[57] but the echo of lines 4-5 in line 21 makes it quite clear that the poem continues.[58] Besides, the strophes 24-26 and 27-29 (and perhaps 21-23, if
[55] Kaimio, The Chorus 251; cf. Calame, Les chœurs 1:436-39.
[56] For the terms "marked" and "unmarked," see Crystal, Dictionary of Linguistics 211-12; cf. Nagy, Pindar's Homer 5-8, and Martin, Language of Heroes 29-30.
[57] Theander, "Studia Sapphica II" 67, followed by Schadewaldt, Sappho 120, and Kirk-wood, Early Greek Monody 118. Page, Sappho and Alcaeus 95 n. 2, is skeptical of any break.
[58] Saake, Zur Kunst Sapphos 174; Burnett, Three Archaic Poets 311; and Gentili, Poetry and Its Public 83.
The first thing to be noticed is the persistent use of the first-person plural by the speaker:. . 
(3), 
. [. .] (18), 
(21), and presumably 
in line 27. Of the verb ending in line 3 we cannot say very much, except that the "we" contained in it contrasts itself with the "you" in line 4, who is probably Atthis.[60]
in line 18, probably the subject of the infinitive 
, could be an inclusive "we" (speaker or speakers + Atthis), as 
in line 27 seems to be ("and for us ... she [Aphrodite] poured nectar"). But this can hardly be the case with 
in line 21. Again there is a contrast between the speaker ("we") on the one hand and Atthis on the other: "it is not easy for us to rival goddesses in loveliness of figure, but you have...."[61] Burnett comments about these lines that "the singer praises Atthis with the voice of a group" and "[t]he plurality is undoubted, and more important, the playful self-denigration—so like that of the girls of Alcman's Partheneion (or Theocritus's Helen )—is a sign that the group here hails Atthis as its leader,"[62] but she does not draw the obvious conclusion that the speaker is therefore most likely a group.
These words are in many ways reminiscent of Alcman's first partheneion, in which the chorus compares its leader, Hagesichora, to goddesses (though falling short of an equation; 96 f.) and her companion, Agido, to the Sun (41), while at the same time playing down their own beauty (64 ff.) and singing talents (85-87; cf. 100-101). To Hailer goes the credit of first having noticed the agonistic quality of Sappho fragment 96 and its resemblance to Alcman's partheneia.[63] Not only is the plural speaker of the poem and the way it contrasts itself to Atthis and the Lydian woman suggestive of a choral performance, but also the actions described in the poem. The woman overseas is thought of as dancing in Lydia right
[60] Page, Sappho and Alcaeus 92; Campbell, Greek Lyric 1:123 n. 1; Burnett, Three Archaic Poets 302-3; Hague, "Sappho's Consolation for Atthis" 29.
[62] Burnett, Three Archaic Poets 312.
[63] Hallett, "Sappho and Her Social Context" 140.
now,[64] while in the past she enjoyed the singing and dancing (
; 1.5) of Atthis. It would be very effective to think of the speakers of this poem as performing a song dance at the same time as the woman in Lydia and like Atthis in the past.[65]
In fragment 94 the use of "we" is more complex. Sappho is probably singing the song herself since her name is mentioned in line 5, although we cannot exclude the possibility of another soloist or a chorus impersonating her (see above). In the first line, Sappho or the girl who left her speaks in the first-person singular (
, 1; 
, 2).[66] In lines 4-5 the girl speaks (again) and uses a first-person plural (
; 1. 4). At first it might seem that this first person refers just to herself ("o, how we suffer"), but the echo of these words in line 11 (
) makes it clear that she is probably speaking both for Sappho and for herself.[67] The first-person plural in line 8 (
) is exclusive and probably refers to Sappho and her companions;[68] "we" in line 26 (
) refers again to Sappho and the girl, or to Sappho, the girl, and her companions. These companions, together with the girl and Sappho, may have formed the chorus that is mentioned at the end of line 27.[69] Their inclusion in line 8 strongly suggests that they were present at the performance of this song too, either in the audience (as commonly envisioned) or as a chorus supporting Sappho while she was singing.
The whole poem, or at least the preserved part (Sappho's speech to the woman who leaves her), is, I would suggest, concerned with choral performances. Most of the "pleasant things" of which Sappho reminds her, the stringing of flower wreaths (12 f.), putting on garlands (15 f.), wearing
[66] Gomme ("Interpretations" 255-56), Burnett ("Desire and Memory" and Three Archaic Poets 292), Snyder (The Woman and the Lyre 26), and Greene ("Apostrophe and Women's Erotics" 239-40) assume that the girl speaks the first line, contra Wilamowitz (Sappho und Simonides 50), Page (Sappho and Alcaeus 82), Saake (Zur Kunst Sapphos 189), and Robbins ("Every Time I Look at You"), who opt for Sappho.
[68] Page, Sappho and Alcaeus 78.
perfumes (18 f.), and going to holy places (25, 27), where there is a "chorus" (? 
; 27) and "sound" (
; 28), agree with the activities of a chorus; and one can even read a linear progression into them, starting with the preparations and leading up to musical performances at temples and other places.[70] In that case Sappho would be reminding a girl of previous performances perhaps at the very moment that she and her choir, of which the girl no longer was part, were performing again a song dance, just as in fragment 96.[71]