Post War Trauma In The Odyssey
The Odyssey is an epic poem written by Homer based around ancient greek values. While “Odysseus to Telemachus” is a poem written by Joseph Brodsky based around a father son relationship. In comparing the two works, there are many distant similarities and differences.
The similarities throughout both depictions are that they show a warrior with post-war trauma, a great distance from home, and is mentally loyal to his family. In The Odyssey, Odysseus is portrayed as someone mentally distant from his family, misses the idea of home, and is distressed about the war. While in “Odysseus to Telemachus”, Odysseus is described as someone only focused only on Telemachus, given up on going home, and conflicted about war.
Even though both depictions of Odysseus has to face post-war trauma, Homer’s Odysseus is more distressed by the events while Brodsky’s Odysseus finds the war unnecessary. In The Odyssey, while the minstrel was singing about the war, “Odysseus let the bright molten tears run down his cheeks…”(Homer VII. 560-1). In the epic it mentions the weeping for the wives and families of the soldiers. This expresses that …show more content…
Homer’s Odysseus is focused on the idea of going home throughout the whole book. This is outlined in the book though, “If we shall ever see your own well-timbered hall on Ithaka. They made me feel a pang, and I agreed” (Homer X. 523-5). This demonstrates that the idea of going home was enough to encourage him to leave a luscious life with Kirke. In contrast to Homer’s Odysseus, Brodsky's Odysseus reveals that he has given up getting home. Brodsky conveys this fact at the very beginning of the poem by stating, “But still, my homeward way had proved too long” (Brodsky 5). This expresses that he has no more energy to keep on fighting to get home. Odysseus in both stories shows that home is a goal, but Homer’s Odysseus had a continuous fight to get
The similarities throughout both depictions are that they show a warrior with post-war trauma, a great distance from home, and is mentally loyal to his family. In The Odyssey, Odysseus is portrayed as someone mentally distant from his family, misses the idea of home, and is distressed about the war. While in “Odysseus to Telemachus”, Odysseus is described as someone only focused only on Telemachus, given up on going home, and conflicted about war.
Even though both depictions of Odysseus has to face post-war trauma, Homer’s Odysseus is more distressed by the events while Brodsky’s Odysseus finds the war unnecessary. In The Odyssey, while the minstrel was singing about the war, “Odysseus let the bright molten tears run down his cheeks…”(Homer VII. 560-1). In the epic it mentions the weeping for the wives and families of the soldiers. This expresses that …show more content…
Homer’s Odysseus is focused on the idea of going home throughout the whole book. This is outlined in the book though, “If we shall ever see your own well-timbered hall on Ithaka. They made me feel a pang, and I agreed” (Homer X. 523-5). This demonstrates that the idea of going home was enough to encourage him to leave a luscious life with Kirke. In contrast to Homer’s Odysseus, Brodsky's Odysseus reveals that he has given up getting home. Brodsky conveys this fact at the very beginning of the poem by stating, “But still, my homeward way had proved too long” (Brodsky 5). This expresses that he has no more energy to keep on fighting to get home. Odysseus in both stories shows that home is a goal, but Homer’s Odysseus had a continuous fight to get