The Odyssey

After learning a few days ago that I was assigned to read the entire Odyssey by Monday, I made it my mission to set aside some time every day to relax and enjoy the story of Odysseus, instead of binge-reading in only a sitting or two. Reading the Odyssey would have been more pleasurable had I been allotted more time to get through it. Even so, I thoroughly enjoyed the story as a whole, as well as some specific parts of the epic poem that struck me as interesting. Specifically, I enjoyed the use of repetition and personification throughout the story. For example, the sun rise was always paired with the line, “When young Dawn with her rose-red fingers shown once more…”. Lines are often repeated throughout the poem, and this is apparently because the story of Odysseus began as a tale passed orally from person to person. Repetition in the story was used as a memory aid for the story-teller.

Something I found very interesting was the intense respect that mortals paid to the gods each and every day. Sacrifices and libations set aside for the gods by the mortals were plentiful in order to show respect to the immortals on Mount Olympus, and to keep them on their good side. Also, most characters that were encountered in the book proved to be strangely generous towards strangers and guests. If a stranger would roam up to a king’s palace, the king would usually demand that his guest be treated to food and wine before even asking the guest his name or his intentions. Nowadays, it would be pretty extraordinary for somebody to welcome a complete stranger into his home and offer him gifts, food, and drink before even asking who he was or what he wanted. If I knocked on the door of a house, and demanded the finest steak and wine that the family inside had, I would have the door slammed closed on me faster than you could say “Homer!”. Enough rambling, but the stark contrast between our current society and the society that Odysseus lived in is extremely interesting. Aside from homicide meaning little to nothing back in the day, it seemed like Odysseus was living in a society where many lived lavishly lazy lives, the lives of royalty. The Odyssey was an extremely interesting read, and I look forward to discussing the story further in class.

2 thoughts on “The Odyssey

  1. David!

    Awesome summary! I liked the way you contrasted modern day to “Homeric” times- I find myself doing the same exact thing. I agree with you that the repetition for the poem served as a memory aid for the storytellers. I really enjoy thinking about this poem as being told orally rather than written in a novel format. It gives it something more and makes the visual imagery just that much brighter, so thank you for touching on that.

  2. I totally agree with you about the way that the people Odysseus’ society live – their lavish and lazy lifestyles are fascinating and seem to encompass all of Odysseus’ world. Its also interesting how very few ordinary people are mentioned (apart from the scant few in Ithaca) and how when he visited a place on his travels the servants and the ordinary people of that place were not memorable, if shown at all!

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