3-011-901 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"The Task of Erinna, The Greek Poetess", sculptured by H. S. Leifchild, from the exhibition of the Royal Academy, 1864. 'Erinna was...connected with the Lesbian school of Sappho...she is described as a native of Telos, a small island of the AEgean, and as dying, at the early age of nineteen, a victim to an excited imagination and the restraints imposed upon its indulgence. Instead of being permitted to engage in her favourite pursuits, she was kept closely employed at the spindle and other household avocations. To account, therefore, for the familiar allusions to her among the ancients as a Lesbian or Mitylenaean, we must conclude that her family settled in Mitylene. It would very naturally follow that simple, honest, Dorian parents should guard against the risk of their daughter being drawn into the neighbouring vortex of refined dissipation...there can be little doubt of the very free character and habits of the most gifted mistress of erotic verse and her Lesbian circle of female associates...It...[is] natural that..."a maiden of fervid temperament, conscious of her capacity to shine among the most brilliant members of the Sapphic sisterhood and exposed on every side to its seductive attraction, should pine under the disappointment".' From "Illustrated London News", 1864.