Sappho, as seen in poem 16 when she states that Helen sailed to Troy not for her children or parents, but for love, implies that love is of the utmost importance, even more so than his own family. Sappho attempts to portray love realistically; with the joy and pain that love brings into one's life. In poem 31, Sappho focuses on the acute pain that love is capable of bestowing on someone. Sappho first speaks bitterly of the man who speaks to the women he loves. After recounting the passion she feels for this woman, Sappho discusses how she feels, as if her desperation could kill her. The jealousy expressed in this poem is one of the many painful consequences of