Major Symbols: Laertes' shroud; Odysseus' bow; the sea; Ithaca. Movie Versions: Ulysses ; The Odyssey The Odyssey is an epic, a very long poem on a single subject.
Some epics were composed in order to be performed from memory, and so they include poetic devices to make them more memorable. And many epics, probably including The Odyssey , were written to be performed to musical accompaniment.
The journey of Odysseus from Troy to Ithaca takes ten years — the same amount of time that the Trojan War itself lasted. The extraordinary length of Odysseus' return trip, which should take a matter of weeks, is due to his many antagonists, including the god Poseidon, the many mythical creatures he encounters, and Odysseus' often greedy and lazy crewmen.
Odysseus's most memorable quality is not his bravery or strength — though he is brave and strong — but rather his cleverness. In fact, Homer refers to his protagonist throughout the epic as "wily Odysseus. Next Poem Summary. The Greeks had no illusion that the characteristic cleverness of Odysseus had a sinister aspect to it, not the least in the way that he deals with the Trojans after the war.
Some of the atrocities at Troy, notably the killing of the young boy Astyanax son of Hector and Andromache , are sheeted home to Odysseus by the poets. Likewise, the Roman poet Vergil in his Aeneid Book 2 emphasises the dark trickery of Ulysses the Roman name for Odysseus in getting the Trojans to drag the Wooden Horse inside the city walls. Even within the Odyssey there is a significant contrast between the careful and clever return of Odysseus, and that of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, who is murdered as soon as he gets home.
The gods are far less prominent in the Odyssey than the Iliad, although Athena in particular has her moments. In many ways Odysseus and Penelope are models of the sorts of things that Athena represents. The Odyssey also has a more elaborate structure and chronology than the Iliad.
The first four books deal with the situation of the house invasion on Ithaca, and the travels of the young Telemachus to mainland Greece. Athena takes Telemachus from the female space of the house to the outside world of male politics. The folktale world through which he travels in Books 9 to 12 is told indirectly by Odysseus on his journey home to a Phaeacian audience, rather than directly by the poet.
This notion of Odysseus as tale teller is central to the Odyssey. In many ways the Odyssey is the most renowned literary work from Greek antiquity, even though some people would say it lacks the radical brilliance of the Iliad.
The story of the Odyssey is a quintessential quest that relates to the passage through life and the importance of love and family and home. The rich variety of mythical narratives in the Odyssey especially his wanderings through a world of wonder and mystery in Books 9 to 12 has meant that the cultural history of the poem is astonishingly large, whether in literature or art or film.
Whole monographs have been written on the reception of Odysseus in later periods. Odysseus, moreover, probably influenced the early comic book superhero Batman in the late s and 40s, just as Greek demigods, such as Heracles and Achilles, help to inform the extra-terrestrial background of Superman. As a human bat, Batman uses disguise to good effect, as Odysseus does, and he thrives on conducting his challenges in the darkness of night.
But the last word on the subject of Odysseus and his adventures should go to Bob Dylan, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in Dylan wrote a lecture in honour of his Nobel victory , focused on some of the literature that influenced and affected him. In a lot of ways, some of these same things have happened to you.
You too have had drugs dropped into your wine. You too have shared a bed with the wrong woman. You too have been spellbound by magical voices, sweet voices with strange melodies.
You too have come so far and have been so far blown back. You have angered people you should not have. And you too have rambled this country all around. Portsmouth Climate Festival — Portsmouth, Portsmouth. Edition: Available editions United Kingdom.
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