Skip to content
Storgy

The Annotated Edition

LA TOMBE DE TIMAS. by Sappho

Summary, meaning, line-by-line analysis & FAQ.

Read aloud in ~1 minOpen reading mode →

This short poem expresses sorrow for Timas, a young woman who passed away before her wedding.

Poet
Sappho
Meter
alexandrine
Rhyme
ABAB CC
Themes
art, death, memory
Listen to recitation1:37
Save branded MP3 (Storgy Student)
The PoemFull text

LA TOMBE DE TIMAS.

Sappho

Timas ici repose, et, vierge, elle succombe! L'hymen n'a point reçu ses voeux! Ses compagnes en deuil consacrent sur sa tombe Les tresses de leurs longs cheveux. LE POËTE. La gaîté, le plaisir sied au fils d'Apollon; Le deuil ne doit jamais attrister sa maison.

Public domain

Sourced from Project Gutenberg

§01Quick summary

What this poem is about

This short poem expresses sorrow for Timas, a young woman who passed away before her wedding. In their grief, her friends cut their long hair and placed it on her tomb as a tribute—reflecting an authentic ancient Greek funeral tradition. The last two lines transition to the voice of the poet, urging that a child of Apollo (a poet or artist) should welcome joy into their home instead of lingering in sorrow.

§02Themes

Recurring themes

§03Line by line

Stanza by stanza, with notes

  1. Timas ici repose, et, vierge, elle succombe! / L'hymen n'a point reçu ses voeux!

    Editor's note

    Sappho names the dead girl—Timas—and immediately highlights the tragedy: she died a virgin, never having married. The word *hymen* here alludes to Hymenaeus, the Greek god of marriage, meaning the line literally suggests that the god of marriage never received her vows. Dying unwed was seen as a double loss in ancient Greece: a life ended too soon and a fate left unachieved.

  2. Ses compagnes en deuil consacrent sur sa tombe / Les tresses de leurs longs cheveux.

    Editor's note

    Tima's friends — probably a group of young women similar to those Sappho led on Lesbos — cut their hair and placed the locks on her tomb. This act reflects a traditional Greek mourning ritual: giving your hair to the deceased was a sign of love and sorrow, leaving behind a part of yourself. The sight of long hair cut and laid upon stone is profoundly heartbreaking.

  3. La gaîté, le plaisir sied au fils d'Apollon; / Le deuil ne doit jamais attrister sa maison.

    Editor's note

    These two lines appear under the heading *Le Poëte* (The Poet), signaling a shift in tone. The poet — a son of Apollo, symbolizing a servant of art and song — receives the message that joy and pleasure are fitting for him, while grief should not overshadow his home. This serves as a poetic conclusion: even when confronted with death, the artist's path leads toward light. It may also echo the ancient belief that poetry can turn sorrow into something more bearable.

§04Tone & mood

How this poem feels

The first four lines convey a sense of tenderness and sorrow — they are quiet, not loud with grief. Sappho speaks plainly about Timas's death, and the depth of her grief comes through in the details: the unspoken wedding vows, the cut hair. Then, in the final couplet, there's a shift to a tone that feels almost stoic, even gently instructive. The poem creates an overall feeling of holding both sorrow and the obligation to keep living within the same small space.

§05Symbols & metaphors

Symbols & metaphors

The uncut hair / tresses
Long hair in ancient Greece symbolized youth, beauty, and being unmarried. When someone cut their hair and placed it on a tomb, it was a form of sacrifice — giving up a part of oneself for the deceased. In this context, it highlights what Timas never had the chance to offer: herself to a husband.
The tomb
The tomb serves as both a physical marker and a threshold. It's where the living offer their final gestures to the dead. By naming Timas in the title and throughout the poem, Sappho ensures her memory endures — the poem transforms into a second tomb, crafted from words.
Hymen (the marriage god)
Invoking the god of marriage to claim he *never received her vows* highlights the life Timas lost. The lack of the wedding ritual symbolizes all the future she was denied.
Apollo / the poet's house
Apollo was the god of poetry, music, and light. Referring to the poet as a *son of Apollo* connects their artistic identity to themes of brightness and joy. The poet's home being free of grief isn’t a sign of indifference — it reflects a belief about the purpose of art.

§06Form & structure

Form & structure

Meter
alexandrine
Rhyme
ABAB CC

§07Historical context

Historical context

Sappho lived on the island of Lesbos around 630–570 BCE and is one of the few ancient Greek poets whose work has survived, albeit only in fragments. She led a community of young women dedicated to music, poetry, and the worship of Aphrodite. Many of her surviving poems express sorrow for young women from this circle who passed away before marriage—a common grief in a society where a woman's identity was closely linked to the shift from maiden to wife. Cutting hair as a funeral offering was a typical Greek practice, mentioned in Homer and elsewhere. This French version is a translation or adaptation of the Greek fragments, crafted in the neoclassical style that was popular in 18th- and 19th-century European editions of Sappho. The added couplet attributed to *Le Poëte* might be an editorial addition or a fragment from a different source placed alongside the epitaph.

§08FAQ

Questions readers ask

Timas is mentioned in Sappho's fragments as a young woman from her circle on Lesbos who passed away before she could marry. Unfortunately, we don’t have any other information about her life. She exists solely in this poem — which aligns with Sappho's purpose: to use poetry as a way to grant immortality to those who might otherwise fade from memory.

Read next

Poems in the same key

Similar poems

Requiem — Robert Louis StevensonBecause I Could Not Stop for Death — Emily DickinsonAnnabel Lee — Edgar Allan PoeElegy Written in a Country Churchyard — Thomas Gray

More by Sappho

Browse all Sappho poems →

Themes in this poem

Poems about artPoems about deathPoems about memoryPoems about sorrow