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"The Odyssey" By Homer

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The Odyssey by Homer

The Odyssey may have sounded thus ...
Critical Lenses

Choose one of these categories through which to view "The Odyssey":

  • History
  • Cognitive and Metacognitive Processes / Interpretation / Relevance to Self
  • Gender
  • Religion
  • Philosophy/Justice
  • Aesthetics

If you prefer, you can follow along while Sean Connery narrates the poem (below) by clicking here to read the poem in a graphic comic form. (From Zenpencils.com)
Ithaka by C.P. Cavafy - Perhaps the most astute analysis of "The Odyssey" ever written.

From: C.P. Cavafy, Collected Poems. Translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard. Edited by George Savidis. Revised Edition. Princeton University Press, 1992

As you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.
 
Hope the voyage is a long one.
May there be many a summer morning when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbors seen for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind--
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.
 
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
 
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
 
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean. 

Translated by Edmund Keeley/Philip Sherrard
All cultures have journeys ... Here is a Turkish journey with its English translation ...


UZUN  İNCE  BİR  YOLDAYIM - Aşık Veysel


Uzun İnce Bir Yoldayım
Gidiyorum Gündüz Gece 
Bilmiyorum Ne Haldeyim 
Gidiyorum Gündüz Gece

Dünyaya Geldiğim Anda 
Yürüdüm Aynı Zamanda 
İki Kapılı Bir Handa
Gidiyorum Gündüz Gece

Uykuda Dahi Yürüyom 
Kalmaya Sebep Arıyom 
Gidenleri Hep Görüyom 
Gidiyorum Gündüz Gece

Kırk Dokuz Yıl Bu Yollarda 
Ovada Dağda Çöllerde 
Düşmüşüm Gurbet Ellerde 
Gidiyorum Gündüz Gece

Düşünülürse Derince 
Uzak Görünür Görünce 
Bir Yol Dakka Miktarınca 
Gidiyorum Gündüz Gece

Şaşar Veysel İş Bu Hale 
Kah Ağlaya Kahi Güle 
Yetişmek İçin Menzile 
Gidiyorum Gündüz Gece


I WALK  ALL DAY  I  WALK  ALL NIGHT - Ashik Veysel

I'm on a long and narrow road,
I walk all day, I walk all night,
I cannot tell what is my plight,
I walk all day, I walk all night.

Soon as I came into the World,
That moment I began my walk,
I'm in an inn with double gates,
I walk all day, I walk all night.

I walk in sleep - I find no cause,
To linger, whether dark or light,
I see the travellers on the road,
I walk all day, I walk all night.

Forty-nine years upon these roads,
On desert plain, on mountain height,
In foreign lands I make my way,
I walk all day, I walk all night.

Sometimes it seems an endless road,
The goal is very far from sight,
On minute, and the journey´s o´er-
I walk all day, I walk all night.

Veysel does wonder at this state,
Lament or laughter, which is right?
Still to attain that distant goal,
I walk all day, I walk all night.

Translated by Nermin Menemencioğlu.
And here are two versions ...
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Click here for modern songs inspired by mythology!

EduCarter: The Fine Print
The views expressed here do not represent any organisation or institution with which the author is affiliated.
All photos by the author, unless otherwise noted. Please credit the creators of any materials you use.
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