Anactoria
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Anactoria (or Anaktoria) is the name of a woman mentioned by Sappho as one of her lovers. Algernon Charles Swinburne wrote a long poem titled Anactoria, in which Sappho addresses Anactoria in imagery that includes sadomasochism, cannibalism, and dystheism.
Swinburne's dramatic monologue, "Anactoria" (1866) characterizes the speaker — the Ancient Greek poetess Sappho — as a kind of lesbian vampire who entertains sadistic fantasies of cannibalizing her lover, Anactoria, while immortalizing her death in poetry. "Anactoria", which is clearly influenced by the writings of Sade (particularly L'Histoire de Juliette) and Baudelaire (the poem "Femmes damnées"), also has the distinction of being the only dramatic monologue in Victorian poetry which assumes the voice of a woman.
