Both the song by the Beatles and the ancient text from Sappho are talking about longing for something. Both of the speakers show sorrow. In the ancient text by Sappho, the sorrow is shown by the phrase “free me from jagged sorrow.” They believe that the person they love is the cure for their sadness and if they get this person back then all their troubles will be solved. For the song, a similar sadness is expressed by the phrase, “now I need a place to hide away.” They do not want to confront their problems and face the fact that yesterday has passed and the one they love is no longer in their life. So, in each case, the speaker has essentially lost something they love and long for that back.
Differences can also be seen in the song and the ancient excerpt. Even though it seems like the two speakers are longing for the same thing they are expressed in two different ways, one being the time when they were with the other person and one the other person directly. In the song, “yesterday” is the thing being longed for. This was a time when the speaker was with the one they loved. Now, all the speaker wants to do to is “hide away.” The longing nature of love is also present in the ancient text by Sappho in the phrase “make what my heart is longing for, happen.” The thing that is being referred to here is the other person in the relationship. This can be seen by the next sentence, “You yourself fight alongside me.”
1 (L-P) lines 25-28;
Come to me now once more, and free me from jagged sorrow, and make what my heart is longing for happen. You yourself fight alongside me.