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The Influence Of Greek Mythology Upon Poetry And Modern World
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Polus D'orumagdos Ororei and - The Way Of Victory
Grave deeply, as the storm-gods clamor round
Here lieth a mortal whom the thundering sound
Of heroes maddened, one whose heart took fire
At their slow march about the headland pyre,
Chanting their sorrows in the noblest tongue
Earth ever knew, one who had been - among
The sailors in the living ships of old,
Tugged at the oars with them, and felt the cold
Of wintry night-seas heaving over the prow
In the shadows of the moon ; and now
HE hath no fear of any death,
For he hath seen men pitifully die
A thousand ways, and patiently awaiteth
Whatever reckoning shalt draweth nigh.
Robert J. Lindley, 7-24-2020
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The Way Of Victory
I longed for wandering by those islands
Where ever blue rapturous sunlight beams ;
Sought a mountain home, for sleep and silence
And gold-crested star-winds throughout my dreams ;
In deep tumult, thunder of rolling tides,
Far below uplands where Holy rest abides,
He sent victory, where pilgrim road leads
Through murmuring crowds, through cities' rash mobs,
Through reality, human thoughts and deeds,
Through smoke, dust, agony, -red sodden ways
Where reapers harvest and toil dauntless days,
Sea of sorrows grip, death-winds moaning past
Soul resplendent, triumphant to the last.
Robert J. Lindley, 7-17- 2020
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The Artistry of the Homeric Simile
Scott, William C. (William Clyde), 1937-
Dartmouth College Library
Hanover, NH 03755, USA
© 2009 by William C. Scott
https://www.dartmouth.edu/library/digital/publishing/scott2009/
William C. Scott
The Artistry
of the
Homeric Simile
Dartmouth College Library
&
Dartmouth College Press
Hanover, New Hampshire
Published by
University Press of New England
Hanover and London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Scott, William C. (William Clyde), 1937–
The artistry of the Homeric simile / William C. Scott.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-58465-797-2 (pbk.: alk. paper)
DOI: 10.1349/ddlp.769
1. Homer—Literary style. 2. Greek language—Figures
of speech. 3. Oral-formulaic analysis. 4. Oral tradition—
Greece. 5. Rhetoric, Ancient. 6. Simile. I. Title.
PA4177.S5S28 2009
883'.01—dc22 2009016159
Preface
The similes in Homer are treasure troves. They describe scenes of Greek life that are not presented in their simplest form anywhere else: landscapes and seascapes; storms and calm weather; fighting among animals; aspects of civic life such as disputes, athletic contests, horse races, community entertainment, women carrying on their daily lives, and men running their farms and orchards. But the similes also show Homer dealing with his tradition. They are basic paratactic additions to the narrative showing how the Greeks found and developed parallels between two scenes, each of which elucidated and interpreted the other, and then expressed those scenes in effective poetic language.
Hanover, New Hampshire
W.C.S.
-ix-
The Artistry of the Homeric Simile
-1-
Chapter One
Similes, the Shield of Achilles,
and Other Digressions
Similes are often repeated with very little change, they
accumulate when there is no need, and they compare where
there is nothing comparable. Great art would consist in making
one large and highly appropriate simile. Homer becomes too
carried away with his own similes and forgets narrative.
M. de la Motte1
In the eighteenth book of Homer’s Iliad Hephaistos makes a new shield for Achilles.2 The description of this shield is justly famed as a small masterwork in its own right as well as being the prototype for later poets and writers who include art objects within their works.3 The most notable ancient examples are The Shield of Heracles, the shields in the central scene of Aeschylus’ Seven against Thebes, the cup in Theocritus’ first Idyll, the tapestry in Catullus’ epyllion on the marriage of Peleus and Thetis (c. 64), and the shield of Aeneas in book 8 of The Aeneid. These ekphrases occupy so large a portion of each work that they are necessarily major elements in the overall design.4
Homer often describes objects and implements in the course of his narrative, even pausing in the midst of events to present a detailed picture of some article drawn from the background. Book 11 of the Iliad contains three examples. The first and second are the descriptions of the breastplate and the shield of Agamemnon embedded in his arming scene (11.19–40); the third is "Nestor’s cup" (11.632–37). The presentation of each object is sufficiently detailed that it has been possible to find fragmentary yet often rather precise remains that parallel the verbal descriptions.5 These descriptions focus sharply on physical features. While they may interrupt an action, they do so only long enough to permit a listing of the elements that would meet the eye of the observer. Such quick sketches of a person’s possessions, however, strengthen the characterization being developed in the larger passage. The
-2-
highlighting of Agamemnon’s battle gear introduces the king as a heroic personage and reinforces his status as a major warrior at the moment he begins his aristeia.6 The ornate cup that Nestor alone can lift endows him with extra strength and stature at the moment when he is going to give crucial advice to Patroclus.7
One such piece described in the poems, however, will never be successfully reproduced even with considerable effort and ingenuity, and that is the Shield of Achilles. Special problems abound: the figures are in motion and small vignettes are in the process of evolving; this shield will not hold still for a static modeling session but continues to shift and change before the eyes of the observer. Thus though several commentaries feature a basic drawing of the shield that locates the individual scenes within the surrounding border of the river Ocean, sketches of the events described in each scene are omitted.8 The conclusion is inevitable: while there may have been shields that resembled the Shield of Achilles in basic shape and complexity, this particular shield never did and never could have actually existed because it is as much a product of the poet’s imagination as the narrative itself. The people on the Shield live and breathe, events develop over time, and there is such a collection of varied subject matter that it probably could never have been arrayed in its entirety on the surface of any one weapon. In addition, the presentation of the Shield is complex. It is not only a verbal description of the contents; it also involves the medium, the process of creation, the maker and his motives, and the interpreter.9
Once it is clear that Achilles’ Shield is more a creation of the poet than of the forge, a new set of revealing parallels can be sought. These would be imaginative constructs that interrupt the ongoing narrative in order to introduce a scene developed within its own clearly bounded framework. An obvious example is the tale of Odysseus’ visit to his maternal grandfather, Autolycus, in book 19 of the Odyssey (392–466).
This story falls into three segments: the naming of the baby Odysseus, the reception of the young boy at his grandfather’s palace, and his wounding by the boar. Each confirms an element in Odysseus’ characterization that was present from an early age. Autolycus is known for…..
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Links
Scott. C. The Artistry of the Homeric Simile - Dartmouth Collegehttps://www.dartmouth.edu › scott2009 › ocm318673021
by WC Scott · 2009 · Cited by 95 — The simile covers this moment in a different way than a factual report would: ... that testify to the resourcefulness and strength of other lions who emerge victorious over men and ... Orumagdos ororei describes both woodcutters and warriors (Aristarchus). ... The Shield of Achilles: Ends of the Iliad and Beginnings of the Polis.
https://www.bisd303.org/cms/lib3/WA01001636/Centricity/Domain/1342/Modernist%20Poetry.pdf
https://www.coursera.org/learn/modpo
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-wordsworth
https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/e/English_poetry.htm
https://www.encyclopedia.com/literature-and-arts/language-linguistics-and-literary-terms/literature-general/classicism