#listen. for all Odysseus's bravado & confidence & talent‚ he is not ultimately compared to a tidal wave or a cyclone or a storm

[pegasusdrawnchariots]

thing I am normal abt #1: the simile Homer chose to describe Odysseus at the end of the 5th rhapsody of the Odyssey

(translation by Emily Wilson)

#Odysseus #The Odyssey #Homer #Emily Wilson #quotations #epics #poetry #characters #ceci je l'ai fait #listen. for all Odysseus's bravado & confidence & talent‚ he is not ultimately compared to a tidal wave or a cyclone or a storm #his persistence is not the persistence of the Iliad! this is the epic of timeworn embraceable life remember! #he is embers. the flame of his life has been beaten back & doused to mere embers #& it's all he can do to make sure he doesn't go out #not even like. reignite or flare up or w/e. Odysseus is not a bushfire here. here‚ he is on the brink of being extinguished #which is of course never an option #of course he thinks of nothing but clinging to life. of course he does #ALSO. CLINGING TO LIFE IN A BED FOR TWO MADE BY HIS OWN HANDS. UNDER OLIVE TREES #this is not lost on me #also ridiculously cute image in the sentence after he piles up his lil leaf bed #'Seeing this‚ the hero who had suffered for so long was happy.' #picture book ass sentence #but also. POIGNANT. HHHHH #bc he is a hero of epic!! & he has suffered!!! for so very long!!!! #it's ongoing! everyone else got to go home after the war. not him!! #the image of this grizzled grimy war hero beaten to shit half drowned naked freezing & on the brink of passing out #making a little den of leaves & going :) at it. god......... this POEM #TIMEWORN EMBRACEABLE LIFE INDEED!! thenks John Miles Foley for my life