Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE ILIAD: BOOK 3. MENELAUS AND ODYSSEUS, by HOMER Poet's Biography First Line: Then answer thus antenor sage return'd Last Line: Found none, to wonder at his noble form.' Subject(s): Mythology - Classical; Trojan War; Ulysses; Odysseus | ||||||||
THEN answer thus Antenor sage return'd: 'Princess, thou hast described him: hither once The noble Ithacan, on thy behalf Embassador with Menelaus, came, And at my board I entertain'd them both. The person and the intellect of each I noted; and remark'd, that when they stood Surrounded by the Senators of Troy, Atrides by the shoulders overtopp'd The prince of Ithaca; but when they sat, Ulysses had the more majestic air. In his address to our assembled chiefs, Sweet to the ear, but brief, was the harangue Of Menelaus, neither loosely vague, Nor wordy, though he were the younger man. But when Ulysses rose, his downcast eyes He riveted so fast, his sceptre held So still, as if a stranger to its use, That had'st thou seen him, thou had'st thought him, sure, Some chafed and angry idiot, passion-fixt. Yet, when at length, the clear and mellow base Of his deep voice brake forth, and he let fall His chosen words like flakes of feather'd snow, None then might match Ulysses; leisure, then, Found none, to wonder at his noble form.' | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CALYPSO'S ISLAND by ARCHIBALD MACLEISH THE SAIL OF ULYSSES by WALLACE STEVENS ULYSSES AND THE SIREN by SAMUEL DANIEL THE OLD SHIPS by JAMES ELROY FLECKER THE ILIAD: ACHILLES OVER THE TRENCH by HOMER |
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