Homer's Odyssey: A CommentarySnider, Denton Jaques
Philosophy
Homer's Odyssey: A Commentary
Snider, Denton Jaques
Epic poetry, Greek -- History and criticism; Homer. Odyssey; Odysseus, King of Ithaca (Mythological character) -- In literature
1. We have already noticed the three grand Returns, rising one above
the other to the culmination--that of Nestor, of Menelaus, of Ulysses.
Now the first two are told in the Telemachiad; but they openly lead up
to the third, which is the complete Return, and which is just the theme
of the Ulyssiad. Nestor makes the immediate Return, without conflict,
through Greece, but he points directly to Menelaus, and foreshadows the
coming of Ulysses. Menelaus, however, prophesies the third Return, and
thus directly joins his account with the Ulyssiad. In this manner we
see and feel the intimate bond between these two grand divisions of the
total Odyssey.
2. We notice the same general movement in the Telemachiad and in the
Ulyssiad; the same fundamental scheme underlies both. There is the real
Present, in the one case Ithaca, Pylos, Sparta, in the other ease
Phaeacia; then there is in the same heroic Past the Trojan war and its
deeds of valor; thirdly there is a movement in both to an ideal world,
to a Fableland, outside of Hellas and beyond even Troy; finally there
is a Return in both to Greece and to the Present. Setting the stages of
this movement down in definite numbers, we have, first in the
Telemachiad: (1) Hellas, the Present; (2) back to Troy, the Past, in
the reminiscences of Nestor, Menelaus, Helen; (3) forward to the Fairy
World in the account of Proteus; (4) return to Ithaca at the end of the
Fourth Book. Secondly in the Ulyssiad we may here note in advance the
same general movement: (1) Phaeacia, the Present; (2) back to Troy in
the strains of Demodocus; (3) forward to the Fairy World of Polyphemus
and Circe; (4) return to Ithaca in the Thirteenth Book. Thus we reach
down and grasp the fundamental norm according to which the poet
wrought, and which holds in unity all the differences between these two
divisions of the poem. The spiritual basis of this movement, its
psychological ground, we shall endeavor to unfold more fully hereafter.
3. In correspondence with the preceding, we can distinguish in both
divisions the same kinds of style: (1) the symple Idyllic Tale of the
Present; (2) the Heroic Tale recounting the Past and specially the
Trojan war; (3) the Fairy Tale which introduces a supernatural realm.
Each of these styles is poetic, yet with its own coloring and
character. Here again we should observe the author employing his
fundamental norm of composition a second time, and thus re-asserting
himself as the same person in both divisions of the poem--in the
Telemachiad as well as in the Ulyssiad.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account