January 2010
7 posts
Before I kill you, would you please tell me your...
It has taken me a bit longer to get through The Iliad that I had hoped. I’m supposed to start the Odyssey on February 1, and I still have a few hundred pages of this one to get through.
But here is an aside:
I always chuckle to myself when soldiers are in the middle of an intense fight—spears, arrows flying everywhere, people dying left and right—but they pause in order to...
“Patroclus—
dearest joy of my heart, my harrowed, broken heart!
I left...”
– The Iliad, Book 19, Lines 338-343
Briseis, mourning Patroclus
“But standing clear of the fray Achilles’ horses wept
from the time they...”
– The Iliad, Book 17, lines 493-495
Possibly the most depressing sentence I’ve read so far.
Odysseus is a BA
At one point in the epic, Odysseus is in the heart of the battle, surrounded by Trojans, and all alone. Instead of quitting or running, he braces himself for the inevitable fight. And he proves himself (again) to be a great war hero.
Weighing it all, heart and soul, as on they came,
waves of Trojan shieldsmen crowding him tighter,
closing in on their own sure destruction…
like hounds...
“Great marshal Atrides, lord of men Agamemnon…
with you I will end, my...”
– The Iliad, Book 9, Lines 111 - 112
I love tales of companionship and loyalty
“As a garden poppy, burst into red bloom bends,
drooping its head to one side,...”
– The Iliad, Book 8, Lines 349 - 353
Homer is always incredibly detailed, especially when it comes to people dying.
“Come, try me, immortals, so all of you can learn.
Hang a great golden cable...”
– The Iliad, book 8, Lines 20 - 31
I’m grateful we don’t live in Zeus’ world.