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
This is, then, the movement of the individual, in contrast with the
previous sweep of the poem as a whole, which represents the movement of
the world. Both are bound together, both pass through the same stages,
though in a different order. The process of social development begins
with the state of Nature, with Ogygia, unfolds into a simple
institutional life, into Phaeacia, which then enters into certain
negative phases, such as are seen in Fableland. But the man from Troy,
Ulysses, begins with the last, and is whelmed back into the first, and
finally rests in the second before going to Ithaca. Let us note this
personal movement in a little more detail.
1. Ulysses passes into Fableland, having wantonly done a deed of
violence against civilized life and order by destroying the city of the
Ciconians (Book IX), as he was returning from the Trojan War. Such is
the negative element in him, which has been engendered by that war, and
which now appears in various manifestations, such as his doings with
Polyphemus and Circe, till his career in Fableland winds up with
destroying the Oxen of the Sun. This is the extreme negative act which
throws him back beyond Circe's into Calypso's realm. He assaults really
his own will in this last act, he undermines his own power of recovery,
he puts out his own light. Circe would have sent him forward again,
leaving intact his will-power; Calypso detains him lulled in the
sensuous delights of her bower. He denies his own reason; how then can
he rise after a fall? Indeed what use is there of rising? So he sinks
down into Ogygia, the Dark Island.
2. It is no wonder, therefore, that he remained with Calypso seven
years and more, draining to the dregs the cup of that life. Still he
has desire to return home, must have it, he must possess reason to deny
reason. He longs for what he has not, sensuous charms cannot drown his
aspiration; such is the Hell in which he has placed himself. Still even
here when he has passed his probation, he must be released by a decree
of the Gods, who, formerly favorable to Neptune, the divine foe of
Ulysses, have now become friendly to Minerva, the Hero's protectress.
Why this change in the everlasting powers? When Ulysses is ready to
leave Ogygia, the Gods cannot keep him there, they have to change; the
divine Order must help him escape, if it be divine. This is just what
happens; Zeus, voice of the Olympian law, commands his departure, and
Calypso must obey.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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