Homer's "Odyssey"

Paper Summary:

The paper shows how the tension between obstacles and goals is one of the main themes of the poem "Odyssey" where, although the journey is full of deadly obstacles and pitfalls, there is a peaceful ending. The paper also notes the theme of return and the theme of recognition. The paper concludes that Odysseus' struggles are a portrait of life itself and its arduous and transforming lessons.

From the Paper:

"The Odyssey is one of the greatest epic poems of all times. The symbolic journey at the core of the poem has been reiterated numberless times as a leitmotif throughout Western literature. The complexity and the magnitude of the epic are so overwhelming, that a huge variety of themes and symbols can be identified in the work. The Odyssey has an unparalleled mythological density which makes it one of the most spectacular works of literature of all times. Thus, first of all, the poem addresses the life and initiation of the hero in the form of a circuitous journey. It is hard to enumerate even some of the themes that structure the great poem. Odysseus' rounded journey is a complex adventure which contains almost all the archetypes of human experience at its core. Each episode of the travel as well as the journey itself and the return home is permeated with symbols of the hero's individual struggle with life (the journey itself), with the gods (Odysseus' conflict with Poseidon), with human fate or with the other men (Odysseus' fight with the unlawful suitors of Penelope)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Griffin, Jasper. Homer: The Odyssey. Cambridge University Press, 1987, pp 47-98
• Halkin, Hillel. "Sailing to Ithaca." Commentary 120.4 (Nov 2005): 69(8).
• Homer. The Odyssey. New York: Oxford Classics, 1973
• Jones, Peter V. "Introduction," in The Odyssey, by Homer, translated by E V Rieu, Penguin Classics, 1991
• Moses, Carole. "Homer's The Odyssey." The Explicator 64.3 (Spring 2006): 130(2).

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• Book Review # 74929 : "Aeschylus' "Agamemnon" and Homer's "Odyssey"

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