“we need to view comparatively the reception of Sappho’s songs as reflected in imitations.”
I fully agree with such an approach. That is why in Lardinois (f.c.) I first studied the reception of Sappho in all the remaining fragments of the female poets from the fourth cent. BCE (Erinna) to the 2nd cent. CE (Balbilla and Damo), then in a selection of male authors ranging from Theocritus to Catullus in order to compare the two groups with one another.