Coming Home
Coming Home
The Renaissance period was defined by the plethora of work that paid homage to antiquity, or the classics. These Renaissance writers, artists, and thinkers recognized the virtues, themes, and ideas of the classics and they were able to harness those virtues, themes, and ideas in order to influence their society. Today, the same thing is exhibited in many contemporary works. There is evidence of the importance of classical ideas in various modern works of today, ranging from but not limited to, art, music, and literature. This paper deals specifically with the way music captures the essence of the classical virtues, themes, and ideas in Homer’s “The Odyssey”. The song of emphasis is “Coming Home” by Diddy, featuring Skylar Grey. The song refers to three other songs, “The Tears of a Clown” by Smokey Robinson, “A House is Not a Home” by Dionne Warwick, and “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now” by McFadden & Whitehead. Collectively, all these songs efficiently capture the importance of the struggle, the classical definition of home and the joy of reaching home that is exemplified in “The Odyssey”.
“Coming Home” begins with the proclamation, “ I 'm coming home/ I 'm coming home/ Tell the World I 'm coming home/ Let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday/ I know my kingdom awaits and they 've forgiven my mistakes/ I 'm coming home, I 'm coming home/ Tell the World that I 'm coming” (Combs). Diddy wastes no time in establishing the goal of his journey. This opening stanza portrays the story of Odysseus and his desire to get back home to Ithaca and his family. This desire is evident from the very first time we are introduced to Odysseus in book five where Calypso finds him “sitting, still, weeping, his eyes never dry, his sweet life flowing away with the tears he wept for his foiled journey home” (Homer 157). Home proves to be immensely important to Odysseus. In order to understand why getting home is so imperative, it is essential to comprehend what the
The Renaissance period was defined by the plethora of work that paid homage to antiquity, or the classics. These Renaissance writers, artists, and thinkers recognized the virtues, themes, and ideas of the classics and they were able to harness those virtues, themes, and ideas in order to influence their society. Today, the same thing is exhibited in many contemporary works. There is evidence of the importance of classical ideas in various modern works of today, ranging from but not limited to, art, music, and literature. This paper deals specifically with the way music captures the essence of the classical virtues, themes, and ideas in Homer’s “The Odyssey”. The song of emphasis is “Coming Home” by Diddy, featuring Skylar Grey. The song refers to three other songs, “The Tears of a Clown” by Smokey Robinson, “A House is Not a Home” by Dionne Warwick, and “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now” by McFadden & Whitehead. Collectively, all these songs efficiently capture the importance of the struggle, the classical definition of home and the joy of reaching home that is exemplified in “The Odyssey”.
“Coming Home” begins with the proclamation, “ I 'm coming home/ I 'm coming home/ Tell the World I 'm coming home/ Let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday/ I know my kingdom awaits and they 've forgiven my mistakes/ I 'm coming home, I 'm coming home/ Tell the World that I 'm coming” (Combs). Diddy wastes no time in establishing the goal of his journey. This opening stanza portrays the story of Odysseus and his desire to get back home to Ithaca and his family. This desire is evident from the very first time we are introduced to Odysseus in book five where Calypso finds him “sitting, still, weeping, his eyes never dry, his sweet life flowing away with the tears he wept for his foiled journey home” (Homer 157). Home proves to be immensely important to Odysseus. In order to understand why getting home is so imperative, it is essential to comprehend what the
Cited: Homer, Robert Fagles, and Bernard Knox. The Odyssey. New York: Viking, 1996. Print. Combs, Sean. “Coming Home.” Last Train To Paris. Bad Boy Records, 2010 McFadden & Whitehead. “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now.” McFadden & Whitehead. Philadelphia International, 1979 Robinson, Smokey. “The Tears of a Clown.” Make It Happen. Tamla, 1970 Warwick, Dionne. “A House is Not a Home.” Make Way for Dionne Warwick. Scepter, 1964