Thursday, October 7, 2010

What shore does Odysseus wash up on after he leaves Calypso's island in The Odyssey?

Odysseus spends many years on Calypso's island in Homer's
epic The Odyssey. However, the Olympian gods show mercy on Odysseus
and decide that he will return home to his beloved island of Ithaca. Therefore, Hermes
is sent to tell Calypso she must release Odysseus. She tells Odysseus he must build raft
in order to sail home, which he completes in four days. After sailing for eighteen days,
he sees the island of Phaecia, home to King Alcinous. However, Poseidon has not yet let
go of his anger toward Odysseus for blinding his son Polyphemus and creates a storm that
destroy Odysseus' raft. The resourceful and determined Odysseus swims for two days and
nights until he reaches the shore of Phaecia. It is to King Alcinous and his kingdom
that Odysseus will share his story, recounting all that happened to him in hs effort to
get home after leaving Troy and fighting in the Trojan War. Odysseus' retelling of his
story starts with Book 9 and concludes with Book 12.

No comments:

Post a Comment

What is the meaning of the 4th stanza of Eliot's Preludes, especially the lines "I am moved by fancies...Infinitely suffering thing".

A century old this year, T.S. Eliot's Preludes raises the curtain on his great modernist masterpieces, The Love...