Collected final thoughts on The Odyssey:
- The introduction is long but I learned more about ancient Greek culture than a lifetime of required history classes.
- Celery has pretty flowers, as Calypso’s meadow includes them with violets.
- I definitely remember reading the Odyssey for high school, but at this point I’m convinced that we starting at Book 9 (Cyclops), because Books 1-8 were entirely unfamiliar.
- Lots of use of “godlike” and “like a god”. How much would be different without the constraints of iambic pentameter?
- Get on Athena’s good side for a makeover.
- Homer invented bum fights.
Favorite highlights:
But Hermes did not find Odysseus, since he was sitting by the shore as usual, sobbing in grief and pain; his heart was breaking.
The dazzling bed of Circe.
Let your heart decide.
Sex sways all women’s minds, even the best of them.
Telemachus sneezed loudly and the noise resounded through the hall.
“This greedy pig yaks on like some old woman scrubbing an oven!”