Sappho

Eliot's Notes make vague reference to Sappho, Greek lyric poet of around 600 BCE.  Her verse has survived almost exclusively in fragments. Eliot is thinking of Fragment 104 (a). The warmth and beauty of the lines contrast with the sordid surroundings of the typist's flat:

O Evening Star, bringing everything
that dawn's first glimmer scattered far and wide –
you bring the sheep, you bring the goat,
you bring the child home to its mother.

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