Miscellaneous
Impressions of Homer, Sophocles and Ovid
Art
Madsen, M.Ed.
* * * *
* * * *
THE ILIAD
As the reader soon recognizes, Homer’s poem is epic in
nature, by virtue of its length, scope, tone, style, and content. I was struck, in absorbing this account of
the Trojan War, by the beauty of the versification. In our English language version, no attempt is made to achieve
and actual rhyme, and yet the cadence and overall effect of Homer’s power and strength
are readily communicated. The original
Greek must have been spectacularly poetic, even musical.
After perusing the introductory and explanatory notes, I
found myself asking as I moved toward the opening sequence dealing with the
prayer of Achilles to Apollo for the release of his daughter, how magnificently
Homer blends the Greek Gods, and the entire mythology for which his
civilization is so famous, with aspects of war which were very real.
Throughout this narrative, Achilles turns to the Gods for
support constantly, particularly when in battle. He kills his enemies
mercilessly, even as he evokes his Gods for assistance. From a modern day perspective, I found this
paradoxical, but very human.
As I moved toward
segments focusing on the broadening of the war in The Great Gathering of the
Armies, I began to see the scope and magnitude of this struggle. Not only was this Agamemnon versus Achilles,
but battles over Troy, over neighboring lands, and even beyond the immediate
theater of war were continuously raging.
The implications of these battles for future generations were enormous
(Book 2, Line 140), all the more so since, from his perspective within the war
itself, Homer and his characters could see no end in sight, except perhaps upon
sheer exhaustion after constant and universal destruction.
I was also struck by the flow of the narrative which
simply “went on and on?from one battle or episode to the next. It was an uninterrupted string of events,
always intermeshed with mythological figures, much the way we call upon God
today to assist us in the midst of turmoil.
Unarguably, Homer excelled at description. I see flashing helmets (Book 6, line 135)
and brotherly cooperation (Book 6, Line 120).
There were meticulously crafted character portraits, as well, such as
that of Hector later in the poem. Using
detail, Homer blends action and emotions, combining them to form the near
perfect poetic narrative that The Iliad has become over the ages.
Homeric narration, I noticed, also allows for a view of
the “big picture.?lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> We see the resurgence
of one army and the defeat of another.
There is a period when Agamemnon triumphs, and one for Achilles, sill
another for Paris who ultimately kills Achilles (p. 631, note 19.494). Legends and mythology are fused, creating a
magnificent tapestry.
Having praised this narrative poem, what valid questions
might I ask? Homer generally answers
most of them, as do his critics. I am
left, however, as are some critics and scholars apparently, wondering how
truthful this account actually is. What
percentage of it is pure mythology and what percentage is verifiable
history? That issue needs
clarification, in spite of the universally recognized importance of this
Homeric Epic.
ANTIGONE
The
overwhelming emotions and intense pathos of the fate of Antigone and all those
who surround her in this eternal Greek drama were central aspects of the play
which struck me as I moved from scene to scene. The reader soon understands that Antigone, daughter of Oedipus,
former King of Thebes, blind but now safe in Athens with Theseus, was finally
free to travel back to Thebes to be with the son of Creon who loved her.
Trapped in a more elaborate thematic line, however,
Antigone, incestuously conceived, was forced to confront the reality of the
rivalry between her two similarly conceived brothers and soon realized that
Creon, who was allied with one of her brothers, Etocles, had refused to bury
the rival brother Polynices, killed in a fratricidal battle for control of
Thebes. Antigone was outraged that
Creon, in his victory and in his hatred for Polynices, had ordered that her
brother’s corpse be left in the open to rot.
Out of love for her brother, and respect for the Gods, she courageously
defied Creon’s decree and he imprisoned her.
Antigone’s honor, sense of duty, and love of the Gods led to her
suicide, and to the suicide of her suitor, Creon’s son Haemon.
This initiated a predictable Greek chain reaction and the
wife of Creon also killed herself because she was disgusted with her husband’s
decision to allow the corpse of Polynices to remain unburied, thus, through
Antigone’s suicide, resulting in the death of her son.
Only the Greeks could structure such a complex and
interwoven thematic line. Some of it is
certainly reflected in today’s soap operas and light dramas ?particularly in
Mexico where we see many ‘telenovelas?with convoluted plots ending in multiple
deaths -- usually out of love, bitter rivalry or other strong human
emotions. In Ancient Greece there was
certainly an awareness of the complexity of human nature, but it was interwoven
with fabulous and imaginary creatures such as the Sphynx, the all-knowing
Oracle of Delphi, or Gods like Apollo who manipulated, foresaw and prophesied
events to occur at a future time. These
beliefs, employed as a backdrop in Sophocles?play Antigone, detonated
many of the tragic events that occurred, although they may not have otherwise.
As a female reader of Antigone, I empathized with
this heroine completely. After
assisting her father in his wanderings, she was condemned to relive much of the
tragedy of her entire family. Her
brotherly love for Polynices, her ill-fated romance with Haemon and the wrath
of Creon all converged to cause her own destruction and the destruction of
Creon’s wife and Haemon. What forces,
divine or earthly, were set in motion to lead to such a catastrophic
disaster? What must have been going
through Antigone’s mind as she saw, in flashback during her final moments, her
whole life and that of her family?
It is also important to point out that I literally loved
the role of the chorus that, in chant, illuminated and provided some of these
answers and insights! There was no
doubt that Antgigone loved the gods and needed to appease them through
insistence on burial of Polynices, and ultimately through her own death. I feel
that she was flawed in her own emotional response to this situation, but that
she was extremely prideful and determined.
These are qualities that should be recognized in Antigone.
Ovid’s The Art of Love
When
reviewing the assigned excerpts in Ovid’s Art of Love, I couldn’t help
but think of our Penguin Edition’s editor for this volume, Peter Green and his
wife. The wife of our editor was
important because Green claims she frequently assisted him with Latin-English
translation. There are many locations in this sensual poem where it seems to me
obvious that a woman’s touch was used in the translation process. Or perhaps I am wrong and Ovid, himself, was
capable of including these emotions and sensations. Upon further reflection, I am willing to accept that the truth
may lie in Ovid’s tremendously impressive grasp of amorous affairs, rather than
in flowery translation.
This poem (Book 1 in particular) utilizes far more
mythological imagery than do Ovid’s Cures for Love. In fact, it is fairly well saturated with references to
mythology. We learn of Perseus and
Andromeda, of Romulus, but apparently not Remus, and of the early history of
rape in Rome (lines 110-115), involving a number of mythological and historical
figures. Book one enumerates, almost
endlessly, the unfaithfulness of women and the seductive capacities of men. In contrast to Cures, which I liked,
I found Ovid to be almost obsessive in the first book of The Art of Love.
In
Book 2, we move through the well-known myth of Daedalus and Icarus, and Ovid
somehow makes a hasty transition from that (seemingly irrelevant) myth to
delusions and Thessalian witchcraft (lines 95 to 100); but he returns to his
senses again later in Book 2 with truths and wisdom aimed mainly at men. He states that Ulysses was not handsome, but
that he was eloquent and intelligent; these characteristics in Ulysses won the
hearts of maidens (line 123). Book 2 seems to focus on the more serious
figures, such as Homer, and less so on frivolity than Book 1. But that is merely my initial impression.
Book 3 turns primarily to advice for girls and women. In line 60, we see the “gather ye rosebuds
while ye may?theme; in other words, have fun while young because old age comes
upon us rapidly. Ovid it said it
centuries and centuries before the British poets, of course. And the tone in Book 3 is more charming and
soft, it seems to me. I found a number
of relevant passages that apply to love and infatuation even today, and I was
impressed with the amount of detail in Ovid’s accounts appearing in all three
Books.
Initial
Reaction Upon Reading Ovid’s Cures for Love
Peter
Green’s introductory remarks in our Penguin Edition give the reader a deep
sense of Ovid’s personal life, his academic background, his priorities, his
sadness in exile far from Rome, and his love-life, within marriage and
otherwise. Before reading either the Art
of Love or one of its four components, Cures for Love, I felt that I
had already mentally drifted into Ovid’s frame of reference, one essentially
bracketed by Julius Caesars?assassination and the beginning of the Christian
Era.
Because
of the topic discussed by Ovid in the Cures, it can be readily seen that
this was apparently a rather loose age of moral decline and decadence. However, Ovid was a far more moral
individual than many of his literary contemporaries and we see touches of humor,
moral guidance, and solid wisdom in Cures.
Near
the beginning of this poem he advises his readers that quenching the flames of
desire is a “profitable objective?and that we should avoid falling into vices
that may enslave us to a given path of behavior (lines 53-55). This seems to be sound advice even in
contemporary times when temptations and various excesses can easily dominate
our lives. Shortly thereafter, we are
advised to stop at key thresholds of excitation (lines 80-81) and, still later,
Ovid continues his thinking by suggesting that, when we are enamored of someone
whom we cannot love for any number of reasons, we must break away from him or
her through long journeys, placing physical distance between ourselves and the
one to whom we are dangerously attracted (lines 214-219).
As
I perused the poem, I found evidence of entire episodes that Ovid is narrating
for his reader. For example, there is
the distressed man who could no longer stand the sight of his mistress in his
own neighborhood (lines 620-624) and toward
the very end of this poem, Ovid uses Roman mythological or historical
characters, such as Orestes and Hermione, to point out that competition for
women is often the root of our problems.
Avoiding the tendency to compete for women, or men, is, in itself one of
the many cures Ovid suggests in his Cures for Love. I felt, as I read this final section, “how
very true even today.?lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes">