It is easy to love something that is beautiful. It's easy to see beauty in the things you love. What is difficult sometimes is to see the distinction between these two ideas. In Sappho's “Fragment 16” she says that the most beautiful thing in the world is what you love. One question remains: is it beautiful because you love it or do you love it because it is beautiful? The first poet questions beauty standards and the idea of ​​loving someone for their beauty in this poem. Sappho says that although some people find the military or horses the most beautiful things, she believes they are the things one loves. He shares three different situations to discuss this idea. The first idea is universal, the second describes a historical idea through the use of Homer's Iliad, and the final is personal to Sappho's life. While you might say that people love things because they are beautiful, through Sappho's poetry you can see that things are beautiful because of your love for them, this is important to understand because the erotic impulses of the Greeks play an important role in their decision making and in their daily life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayIn Sappho's poem, "Fragment 16," she asks, what is the most beautiful thing? In the first stanza Sappho opens with images of armies to show what others might see as beautiful, "some men say an army of horses and some men say an army on foot and some men say an army of ships..." ( Sappho "Fragment 16" page 27). During this time warfare was prevalent in Greek society and many people would see beauty in different types of armies. This is something that would have been easy to understand at the time since war was a concept known to all Greeks. Sappho points this out as something some would consider beautiful. Sappho then goes on to share what she thinks is the most beautiful thing in the world, “but I say it is/what you love” (Sappho “Fragment 16” p 27). Sappho suggests that no matter what you love, that is what is most beautiful. You may love a person or an object or your family or whatever you like but that person or thing is what is most beautiful. Sappho offers a universal idea of ​​what beauty is. This is something that can be understood by anyone, “easy to make everyone understand” (Sappho “Fragment 16” p 27). This idea is presented as a way to explain what eros makes you feel and what Sappho believes beauty is. Sappho believes that beauty is what you love, this statement alone proves that things are beautiful because you love them. Sappho uses love and eros as a theme for most of her poems, showing how important the topic is to her. To the Greek population of the time, these poems would have spoken through Sappho's discussion of divine love versus human love, "Immortal Aphrodite of the sparkling mind, daughter of Zeus... I beseech you" (Sappho "Fragment 1" p 3 ). Love is something everyone can relate to. In this poem, he uses others' thoughts about beauty as a tool to discuss the relationship between beauty and love. This stanza shows Sappho's feelings about beauty in a universally understood way and that is through love. Sappho uses Homer's Iliad to discuss the connection between love and beauty. In the Iliad, Helen leaves her husband Menelaus to be with Paris. Sappho uses this story to show what eros can do to a person. Love and sexual desire can push people to do things that might be seen as unconventional. Sappho writes: "(Helen) left her handsome husband and sailed to Troy" (Sappho "Fragment 16" p 27). Sappho suggests that Helena was so overcome by eros that she left her family for Paris..