The Iliad Odyssey: The Summary Of A Man
Odysseus indeed in spoils of war
with cunning brave heart, cleverly won,
many a fair desirable noble women
while his wife loyally waited, on Ithaca,
for warrior hero's fleet bloodied blade
in the hand of a Hellene king in duress,
foremost ever in corpse reaping battle
renowned for guile deceit resourcefulness,
will storm many fortified rampart hearts
enchant many fair young, innocent maids,
before finally ends an epic tragic Odyssey
decade upon a decade in event, laden journey,
for renown upon renown in famed Trojan War
an epic travails in trials score upon score
as virile Odysseus tries to spoils laden return fara
reassert his place as rightful king of Ithaca.
poem by Terence George Craddock
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Related quotes
On a Close-up of Louis Esterhuizen, on His Poem “Winnie”
So tell me Louis, you allege:
“I went to look at the remarks
found in his biographical sketch:
“I love the work of various poets
and my favourites are AG Visser, Eugene Marais,
Ingrid Jonker, D.J. Opperman, N.P. Van Wyk Louw,
William Shakespeare, Dylan Thomas, John Keats,
Robert Frost, W.B. Yeats, Yahuda Amichai,
Hannah Szenes, Stevie Smith, Dorothy Parker
and even Homer.””
Further you say: “With the exception of a few names
under the English favourites, all the Afrikaans poets are experts
whom he probably encountered at school,
if a person looks at the verses on his page
you realise that Mr. X has never grown past the incidental
school-contact...In this he is alas not unique.”
Still you are the great master
where it comes to the works of Homer,
as you make a comparison
in your poem “Winnie” between Me. Winnie Mandela
and Homer’s character Penelope,
where there are in reality flagrant contrasts
and the masters canonise this poem
in the “Great Verse Book”
without even being aware of the contrasts?
Let me as just a unfolding poet
who “has never grown past
the incidental school-contact, ”
point out the contrasts clearly:
The story of Penelope comes
out of Homer’s Odyssey where the title
indicates a long historical journey or adventure
or some wanderings
that the main character Odysseus / Ulysses
undertakes before again arriving
at the island Ithaca
where he rules as the king.
For only a very short while
Odysseus / Ulysses is with the nymph Circe
on a island, but the greatest part of the book
is about his wanderings.
In flagrant contrast you write:
”And Penelope comes forward, impatient
and rude as Ulysses is only moving rocks
on his island.”
Where you use the Roman name of Odysseus
to describe Nelson Mandela.
Your Ulysses is not wandering at that stage
or travelling on a historical journey full of adventure
he is busy “moving rocks.”
At that stage your Ulysses
isn’t a king, far less
your Penelope ever becomes a queen,
not even the wife of a president.
The original Odysseus / Ulysses
is only true to one goddess namely Athena
who at various times helps him,
even in his battles,
where your Ulysses divorces your Penelope,
takes another wife
and marries her as a Christian, a Moslem, a Hindu
and also as a Jew.
Still less the ”UDF, AZAPO and also COSATU;
then there’s also the Young Comrades -”
are princes and kings who are trying to seduce her.
Nevertheless you write:
“But while the crown-princes are wooing her
and the almost-princes gather around her
and rollick, the woman plays
in the three storey-mansion
with her last matches.”
The real wife of the real Odysseus / Ulysses
was not involved with a “Stompie” character
who disappeared without a sign
and in the Odyssey the property of Odysseus / Ulysses
is wasted and devoured,
while the princes are fornicating with the maids
and Odysseus / Ulysses
along with his son Telemachus destroys
all of those princes and kings
along with the fornicating maids
that contrasts flagrantly
with the acts of your Ulysses.
Your Ulysses is moving stones, only walks
on his way to freedom a few steps,
divorces your Penelope
and marries another wife.
Nonetheless the original Penelope remains true
to Odysseus / Ulysses,
under the pretext of completing a shroud
that she is weaving for her father in law Laertes,
of which she continually again frays out the thread
and later the two are again together and happy
and it is the nearest
that you come to the original story:
“to again fray out the dream-cloak:
Oh, the endless undoing
of the endless doing, she lisps.”
To my opinion your comparison
between Me. Winnie and Penelope
is rather shallow and totally ungrounded,
as their are just too many contrasts
that you did not think through
and now I am wondering
who is the person
that has “never grown past the incidental
school-contact” as far as Homer’s Odyssey is concerned?
(After Anthony Delius/References: The poem “Winnie” by Louis Esterhuizen, “The Odyssey” by Homer. “On a Close-up of Dirk Opperman, on the Jacket of his Komas” by Anthony Delius.)
poem by Gert Strydom
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I Don't Want To Be A Hero
I don't want to be a hero renowned for my bravery
All I want is heaps of money and of my worries I'd be free
To pay my bills I have to struggle I live close to poverty
I don't want to be a hero what use would that be to me? .
I don't want to die in battle and be honoured posthumously
And be seen as an example and left for posterity
And the crazy army general say there's none so brave as he
I don't want to die a hero what use would that be to me? .
I don't want to die a hero I don't yearn for such renown
But I would like to own a big house on the outskirts of the town
With a rolls royce in my car port and I sunning by the swimming pool
And a nice dip in the water just to keep the body cool.
You would like to die a hero fighting for your Country's pride
And a stone plaque to your memory and your fame known far and wide
Millions of brave men died in battles they like you believed the lie
That your name will live forever if for your Country you will die.
You would like to be remembered as one of the noble dead
But I don't want to die a hero bullet through my heart or head
I don't want no crazy general saying there's none so brave as he
All I need is heaps of money and of my worries I'd feel free.
poem by Francis Duggan
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The Lliad- in 50 words or less
Paris stole Agamemmon's woman.
Hector Killed Patroclus in a fight.
Achilles took revenge against the Trojan,
but otherwise sat sulking in his tent.
Odysseus, the ever resourceful Greek,
built a wooden horse.
Final score: Greeks 1, Trojans 0
Beware of Greeks bearing gifts!
poem by John F. McCullagh
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Table Bay
The sun sets over table bay
and that rough sea lies calm
and a moon rises full,
above the waves
and the thundering breakers
roar like they did
many years before
Odysseus sailed from the island of Ithaca
and went to Troy to war
where he accompanied the heroes
Neoptolemus and Philoctetes and the
armour and shield of great Achilles,
was his to take
and for years he dwelt
on stormy seas and in far away lands.
If per chance his ship would stray
and reach the cape of storms
in another age and time
and his eyes could see
the beauty of that lovely shore,
no other place would
his ship sail to
When Bartolomeu Dias set his ships sails
and left king John ashore,
he was prepared to sail
to the ends of the earth
and no horrendous sea creature
could keep his ships in check.
I wonder what he thought
when the fog faded away
and table mount sprang into view
and table bay lay stretched out
up to its shore
and when he set his cross
did he know that he was marking
a great place
and when he marked his charts
did he wish to come back
to that stormy Cape?
When King John gave the name
Cabo da Bõa Esperança,
did he know that he was naming a place
from where a nation would sprout
and that it would become a city of hope?
[Reference: =>”Cabo da Bõa Esperança=>Cape of Good Hope”]
poem by Gert Strydom
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The Final Old Hero
The final old hero has faded away
His bones even beyond the state of decay
He gave rise to many a patriotic song
But to Mother Nature he finally belong.
He was a great King in a Land from here far
And he was one who led his army in war
He died a true hero on the battle-ground
And stories about him in folklore abound.
No heroes amongst the war leaders of today
From the heat of the battle they stay far away
The children of others for them fight and die
And the rewards of renown and wealth they enjoy.
I see them as manipulative deceitful and sly
Yet that the majority cannot see through them I do wonder why
For what they truly are many them cannot see
And the hero to many is a coward to me.
Though his legend inspired the bards for to rhyme
The final old hero almost forgotten in time
He led his men in war and in battle he died
And true greatness of him never can be denied.
poem by Francis Duggan
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Three Boys On their Bicycles
Along the quiet back streets pedalling up and down
Three boys on their bicycles in the old country town
The prime years of their lives a decade ahead
The future belong to the youth as has often been said
The magpie on a street tree is fluting his song
As three boys on their bicycles pedal along
Chatting of football stars and the fortunes of their favourite football team
To be great football players they do often daydream
With their football boots slung across the handlebars to the football oval bound
'Tis every young players dream for to be best on ground
At the famed M C G on Grand Final Day
Though that for them over a decade away
Full of young ambition and dreams of renown
They pedal along the back streets of the town.
poem by Francis Duggan
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Odysseus' Fate
Through horrors of land and horrors of sea
Bereft and wandering, Odysseus,
God-fearing wretch, sought Ithaca;
Unfaltering, he plunged into the gloom of Hades;
The roar of fierce Charybdis and underwater Scylla's groans
Shook not his noble soul.
His patience vanquished cruel fate, it seemed,
And to the dregs he'd drunk the bitter cup.
It seemed the heav'ns were done with testing him
And drove him softly, slumbering,
To homeland's longed-for cliffs.
He waked: what then? He did not know his home.
poem by Konstantin Nikolaevich Batiushkov
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Mahabharat- The Great War Epic
Unrivalled in breadth and depth
It is greater than Iliad or Odysseus, Homer's Greek epic
Blend of human realism and bright values and idealism is it's very strength.
Every hero or character is flawed
Due to curse or inner weakness
Fraudulent greedy, arrogant or ill-starred
Dropadee shared by five husbands, is gambled of in a manner, sick and shameless.
Mutely witnessed by wise elders she is stripped in open 'Darbaar'
Her friend Krishna the God -incarnates saves her by endless extension
of Saari, by his miraculous act and decision
The most infamous scene in history, it was soon followed by the Great War.
Bhagwad Geeta, the brightest jewel in the bloody crown
Of Mahabharat, is a book of great renown
Teaching karma not entangle with fear of future or mishaps of past
But with quality and values of dharma; and justice, never let down.
Hamletesque Arjuna is motivated to fight for values and justice
Even his respected elders, Guru, friend and relative
With courage and Dharmik motive
For a lasting value- based peace.
Mahabharat is both, realistic and fantastic
With men who are great warriors and donors yet with lust arrogance and misplaced vows and loyalties
It has integrity and yet cunning, politic.
women, beautiful and polyandrous, not known for chastities.
Good wise men are weak and bad are' blind' and strong
Geeta is a celestial war song
knowledge and superstition, logic and miracle strategy and crooked tectics
Mahabharat is a knowledge bank, a national library and epic, condensed yet long.
Oh, Fair To See
Oh, fair to see
Blossom-laden cherry tree,
Arrayed in sunny white;
An April day's delight,
Oh, fair to see!
Oh, fair to see
Fruit-laden cherry tree,
With balls of shining red
Decking a leafy head,
Oh, fair to see!
poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti
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Odysseus
Seeking to find his home, Odysseus crosses each water;
Through Charybdis so dread; ay, and through Scylla's wild yells,
Through the alarms of the raging sea, the alarms of the land too,--
E'en to the kingdom of hell leads him his wandering course.
And at length, as he sleeps, to Ithaca's coast fate conducts him;
There he awakes, and, with grief, knows not his fatherland now.
poem by Friedrich Schiller
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Yesteryear's Hero
Ten years ago he was a hero a parade for him in the Town
But now he is seen as a has been they built him up and dragged him down
Where are they now when he most needs them him they no longer wish to know
He now is one of the forgotten their hero of a decade ago.
When he kicked the winning goal in the final he done himself and the club proud
The band played for him in his Hometown and the cheering for him it was loud
Alcohol now is the only comfort of a man who was a sporting king
His glory days for him are over his praises they no longer sing.
Some of him say he once was a hero his brown hair is now turning gray
And though only in his mid thirties he has known a far better day
In his honour they had big parties to him their toasting glasses they did raise
But now they have another hero another one that they can praise.
Ten years ago he was a hero when he was in his glorious prime
The Town Councillors sung his praises and the poets by him inspired to rhyme
The goal he kicked for his Club in the final happened to be the winning score
But now he is Yesteryear's hero though he is only thirty four
poem by Francis Duggan
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Buds to rotten fruits
Women, the lovely women,
Start their careers step by step.
They court and flirt a decade,
Fug and calve another decade,
Play infidelity one more decade,
And safely consume lowly inmates
To have their urge safely purged out
Or they might grieve till grave.
30.04.2003
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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A Special New Year 1-1-11
A goodbye to a confused decade, goodbye to a year
As the weary old year wanes, bringing me a sad tear
History receives a turbulence filled decade and a 2010
...Many memories special to treasure, some laden with pain
The painful past should not, no longer must revive
For happiness to blossom, a journey magically will survive
Running out of years, my ebony black hair turns silver
The insensitive clock chimes to unfold another dawning year
A beautiful fleet and a majestic dignified display
For many decades to surface, with a radiance sail
With Two thousand and eleven wishes and many more
Wishing you my dears peace love and happiness galore
Many sweet dreams cherish smiling in good cheer
The wonderful world, family friends to greet the new
poem by Shirani Ibrahim
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A Dragon and a Hero
Note: This is a two-part acrostic poem.
Death and destruction descends like a storm -
...creature of legend and mythical form.
Reaping the lives of the women and men -
...flames of the winged one scorching their skin.
Agony, terror and hopelessness reigns -
...children are crying with fear in their veins.
Giant and scaly, with hell colored eyes,
...beast of the ancient rains fire from the skies.
Only the strongest survive the attack -
...dreading the day that the creature comes back.
No man or weapon has challenged the scourge.
...hope that a hero will someday emerge.
Hope brings a hero to vanquish a beast.
Evil had driven its blood thirsty feast.
Ruthless and epic - the battle campaign.
Ode to the hero - the dragon is slain.
poem by Xillus Xavier
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Odyssey Dawn Oil Lamp
rhetoric announces wise western alliance leaders
offered Gaddafi an oil empire olive branch peace
how do these esteemed leaders leading a United Nations
not know their attacks give satisfy glorify ego Gaddafi
an entire world the entire might of collective United Nations
can invade Libya but cannot defeat propaganda dictator Gaddafi
operation “Odyssey Dawn” is an ill chosen crafty hero’s name
does it indicate a planned ten year plus occupation like Iraq
history repeating western attack formula send into no fly zone aircraft
finally after restoring oil pumping infrastructure a golden egg awaits
Libya Arab oil Libya Arab oil for a decade administer prize war spoils
poem by Terence George Craddock (20 March 2011)
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URIAH (2Samuel 11: 1-end)
You were a great warrior
That was taught the act of war
You know your duties and responsibilities
And by it you stand till your death
The king saw your wife bathing
A woman of unusual beauty
Is it a crime to marry a beautiful one?
The king has entered into your wife.
Then he sent for you from war
Lavished you with kindness and gift
Was the king motives right when he did that?
Not all kindness and gift are to be accepted.
But as a true soldier you stood your ground
Putting your duty above all pleasures
Even over that irresistible beauty for the king
What you have is real soldier’s heart
Then you carried your own death with your hand
Conspiracy between the king and Joab
It paid off when you died in fiercest battle
Though In obedience you died as a true soldier
poem by Olanrewaju Adeyemo
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Helen of Troy
A mythological beauty, she had been;
A legendary beauty, she had grown.
Who is it other than Helen of Troy,
The epitome of seductive beauty?
A symbol of man’s erotic desires,
From the other women, Helen differs
In that she never employed her charms
To gain power of self-aggrandizement.
Her era dates back to fifth century B.C.
The fairest of women had been the one
Whom all women should hate and yet envy,
And all men should fear and yet desire.
No wonder, men were captive of her charm,
But not was she captive of any man..
She had admirers; none did she admire.
Her fairness deserved more than what she got.
A puppet she was in the heavenly battle,
Where Greek Gods and Goddesses had sported.
As such, she must be absolved of the taints
She was attached with, sadistically.
Helen was the daughter of Zeus and Leda,
The Greek God and Goddess. Born of an egg,
And brought up by a shepherd, she became
The prince of Sparta, a kingdom’f the Greek.
At her age ten, Helen was kidnapped
By an Athenian Hero for her charm
And was, however, brought back unscathed
By her brother; so famous she became.
At Helen’s wedding, numerous suitors
From far and wide came to claim her fair hand.
They were made to swear an oath to defend
The chosen husband in the event of
A rival attempting to abduct Helen,
The beauty who bred danger where she trod.
The oath assumed a greater importance
In the development of the Trojan War.
Helen was married to Menelaus,
A warrior, on his highest offerings.
On king’s death, he became the king of Sparta.
Helen bore a daughter; nine years rolled.
Paris, a Trojan Prince, came to Sparta
To marry Helen, whom he had been promised
By Aphrodite, after he had chosen her
As the fairest of all the goddesses
So that she could claim the golden apple
Thrown by the Goddess, Eris, from anger
Of not being invited by King Peleus
For his marriage to Sea Nymph Thetis.
Once Paris arrived in the house,
And Menelaus was fated to leave it,
Helen eloped with Paris to Trojan.
The war broke, all suitors participated
The war lasting for over nine years,
Helen lived these years as a willing captive,
More to the design of Aphrodite.
It is unfair to brand her as unfaithful..
The end of the war was brought about
Through the Trojan horse built and left ashore,
With their heroes hidden in it. The foes
Drew the horse into the fort for their fate.
The heroes sacked the city and captured
And caged the fairest queen to her shame.
The Greeks and the Trojans despised her alike.
No woman of her status could be that worst.
Menelaus was to slay his faithless wife.
As he raised his sword, , she dropped her robe
From her shoulders, revealing her assets.
It made him let the sword dropp from his hand.
Helen defied Aphrodite to remain
With Paris, who was soon to meet his death.
Her woes about her hasty decision
To leave Sparta and her spouse crippled her.
‘I will not serve his bed since the Trojan women
Hereafter would laugh at me, all, and my heart
Even now is confused with sorrow’
Helen lamented thus to Aphrodite.
Helen returned as the queen of Sparta.
Chastity, outraged, could be recovered;
Women are resilient, given a chance.
Helen is a proof for all men to note.
How Helen looked, no clues;
Yet her name has power
To inflame men’s heart, ho!
20.08.2008
[Aphrodite is Greek Goddess her counterpart is Venus.
Zeus is Greek God, his counterpart is Jupiter.]
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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Unleavened Dream
joke
spoils the bread, like cocoon
waited to the max
faded anxiously and find
the right timing to fly and wishing
the wind to lip up
every wing to fly and go wherever
it zoom the
sky
learn
the given event
the experience of a lasting
memories of what
to become
a fool in the leading Calvary, the yoke
is easy and sweet pain
remain the passing heist of
a knighted warrior
of dizzy powerful
play
look and wonder
that all
doesn’t know the need and the real key
of being there.
to remember
and stay always in
our Hearts ….
poem by Antonio Liao
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I Like To Write An Epic
i like to write an epic
about a prince who went away to find
his destiny
who met his enemies
beasts and bad spirits
who slew them all
who found his own kingdom
on top of the tallest mountains
reaching the skies
who rode on a Pegasus
and swept away another Helen
there was this war for a thousand years
and there were betrayals
and losses and gains
and at the end
the tragedy happens
the epic is unfinished
all the while i will finish it
but then my friend
you fall short of time
at the happy ending
when the prince finally comes home
as a king
you are dead.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Epic Smile
Time slows;
then stops.
You have an epic smile,
shining brightly to challenge the sun.
You laugh with your soul,
eyes sparkling in the light.
You have an epic smile,
one I will never forget.
My heart leaps at your voice,
a smile shattering the gloom of life.
You have an epic smile,
brighter than a thousand suns.
I will think of you often,
though truthfully I already do.
You have an epic smile, my muse,
one that will always be with me.
poem by Brian Hinckley
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