The Odyssey: Book 01 Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLKMLNLOPQ RCSTMUHVWXLEYZA2ETEB 2SC2D2E2F2G2H2I2J2XM K2L2M2SC2H2PLN2O2P2Q 2C2SHC2MR2VXS2ET2U2O 2V2W2X2T2C2ST2Y2OZ2L YSK2XA3K2C2SEEY2X2T2 C2C2T2JSB3T2JT2C3D3E 3F3E3IT2E3R2MA2L2C2E 3EIXG3H3I3J3E3EK3HSP 2MSSL3IL2T2M3E3EN3O3 P3T2E2N2B2O3E3SSC2E3 C2LIC2B3J3E3SEO3LJME 3XA3E3E3SE3KXEQ3E3SS R3E3E3K3E3S3OEE3E3E3 EE3OLC2VK2E3E3EE3LE3 IN3T3PQ3VE3LEN2U3V3E 3K2MMT2LLLSMIVC2IA2W 3L2X3Y3C2TSOEY3E3KSS EET2I3Y3Z3A4E3N2LE3S SE3C2E3SB4R2L2C4C2E3 E3E3A2E3EX3L2M2E3LSS IK2LGLE3E3ST2E3I3K2B 2J2E3E3Q3E3E3XN3D4E3 E2BE3SLC2T2SE3E3LE4A 2C2XF4L3MC2E3LX| Tell me o muse of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide | A |
| after he had sacked the famous town of Troy Many cities did he visit | B |
| and many were the nations with whose manners and customs he was | C |
| acquainted moreover he suffered much by sea while trying to save | D |
| his own life and bring his men safely home but do what he might he | E |
| could not save his men for they perished through their own sheer | F |
| folly in eating the cattle of the Sun god Hyperion so the god | G |
| prevented them from ever reaching home Tell me too about all | H |
| these things O daughter of Jove from whatsoever source you may | I |
| know them | J |
| So now all who escaped death in battle or by shipwreck had got | K |
| safely home except Ulysses and he though he was longing to return to | L |
| his wife and country was detained by the goddess Calypso who had got | K |
| him into a large cave and wanted to marry him But as years went by | M |
| there came a time when the gods settled that he should go back to | L |
| Ithaca even then however when he was among his own people his | N |
| troubles were not yet over nevertheless all the gods had now begun to | L |
| pity him except Neptune who still persecuted him without ceasing | O |
| and would not let him get home | P |
| Now Neptune had gone off to the Ethiopians who are at the world's | Q |
| end and lie in two halves the one looking West and the other East | R |
| He had gone there to accept a hecatomb of sheep and oxen and was | C |
| enjoying himself at his festival but the other gods met in the | S |
| house of Olympian Jove and the sire of gods and men spoke first At | T |
| that moment he was thinking of Aegisthus who had been killed by | M |
| Agamemnon's son Orestes so he said to the other gods | U |
| See now how men lay blame upon us gods for what is after all | H |
| nothing but their own folly Look at Aegisthus he must needs make | V |
| love to Agamemnon's wife unrighteously and then kill Agamemnon though | W |
| he knew it would be the death of him for I sent Mercury to warn him | X |
| not to do either of these things inasmuch as Orestes would be sure to | L |
| take his revenge when he grew up and wanted to return home Mercury | E |
| told him this in all good will but he would not listen and now he has | Y |
| paid for everything in full | Z |
| Then Minerva said Father son of Saturn King of kings it | A2 |
| served Aegisthus right and so it would any one else who does as he | E |
| did but Aegisthus is neither here nor there it is for Ulysses that | T |
| my heart bleeds when I think of his sufferings in that lonely | E |
| sea girt island far away poor man from all his friends It is an | B2 |
| island covered with forest in the very middle of the sea and a | S |
| goddess lives there daughter of the magician Atlas who looks after | C2 |
| the bottom of the ocean and carries the great columns that keep | D2 |
| heaven and earth asunder This daughter of Atlas has got hold of | E2 |
| poor unhappy Ulysses and keeps trying by every kind of blandishment | F2 |
| to make him forget his home so that he is tired of life and thinks | G2 |
| of nothing but how he may once more see the smoke of his own chimneys | H2 |
| You sir take no heed of this and yet when Ulysses was before Troy | I2 |
| did he not propitiate you with many a burnt sacrifice Why then should | J2 |
| you keep on being so angry with him | X |
| And Jove said My child what are you talking about How can I | M |
| forget Ulysses than whom there is no more capable man on earth nor | K2 |
| more liberal in his offerings to the immortal gods that live in | L2 |
| heaven Bear in mind however that Neptune is still furious with | M2 |
| Ulysses for having blinded an eye of Polyphemus king of the | S |
| Cyclopes Polyphemus is son to Neptune by the nymph Thoosa daughter | C2 |
| to the sea king Phorcys therefore though he will not kill Ulysses | H2 |
| outright he torments him by preventing him from getting home | P |
| Still let us lay our heads together and see how we can help him to | L |
| return Neptune will then be pacified for if we are all of a mind | N2 |
| he can hardly stand out against us | O2 |
| And Minerva said Father son of Saturn King of kings if then | P2 |
| the gods now mean that Ulysses should get home we should first send | Q2 |
| Mercury to the Ogygian island to tell Calypso that we have made up our | C2 |
| minds and that he is to return In the meantime I will go to Ithaca | S |
| to put heart into Ulysses' son Telemachus I will embolden him to call | H |
| the Achaeans in assembly and speak out to the suitors of his mother | C2 |
| Penelope who persist in eating up any number of his sheep and oxen I | M |
| will also conduct him to Sparta and to Pylos to see if he can hear | R2 |
| anything about the return of his dear father for this will make | V |
| people speak well of him | X |
| So saying she bound on her glittering golden sandals | S2 |
| imperishable with which she can fly like the wind over land or sea | E |
| she grasped the redoubtable bronze shod spear so stout and sturdy and | T2 |
| strong wherewith she quells the ranks of heroes who have displeased | U2 |
| her and down she darted from the topmost summits of Olympus | O2 |
| whereon forthwith she was in Ithaca at the gateway of Ulysses' house | V2 |
| disguised as a visitor Mentes chief of the Taphians and she held | W2 |
| a bronze spear in her hand There she found the lordly suitors | X2 |
| seated on hides of the oxen which they had killed and eaten and | T2 |
| playing draughts in front of the house Men servants and pages were | C2 |
| bustling about to wait upon them some mixing wine with water in the | S |
| mixing bowls some cleaning down the tables with wet sponges and | T2 |
| laying them out again and some cutting up great quantities of meat | Y2 |
| Telemachus saw her long before any one else did He was sitting | O |
| moodily among the suitors thinking about his brave father and how | Z2 |
| he would send them flying out of the house if he were to come to | L |
| his own again and be honoured as in days gone by Thus brooding as | Y |
| he sat among them he caught sight of Minerva and went straight to the | S |
| gate for he was vexed that a stranger should be kept waiting for | K2 |
| admittance He took her right hand in his own and bade her give him | X |
| her spear Welcome said he to our house and when you have | A3 |
| partaken of food you shall tell us what you have come for | K2 |
| He led the way as he spoke and Minerva followed him When they were | C2 |
| within he took her spear and set it in the spear stand against a | S |
| strong bearing post along with the many other spears of his unhappy | E |
| father and he conducted her to a richly decorated seat under which he | E |
| threw a cloth of damask There was a footstool also for her feet | Y2 |
| and he set another seat near her for himself away from the suitors | X2 |
| that she might not be annoyed while eating by their noise and | T2 |
| insolence and that he might ask her more freely about his father | C2 |
| A maid servant then brought them water in a beautiful golden ewer | C2 |
| and poured it into a silver basin for them to wash their hands and | T2 |
| she drew a clean table beside them An upper servant brought them | J |
| bread and offered them many good things of what there was in the | S |
| house the carver fetched them plates of all manner of meats and set | B3 |
| cups of gold by their side and a man servant brought them wine and | T2 |
| poured it out for them | J |
| Then the suitors came in and took their places on the benches and | T2 |
| seats Forthwith men servants poured water over their hands maids | C3 |
| went round with the bread baskets pages filled the mixing bowls | D3 |
| with wine and water and they laid their hands upon the good things | E3 |
| that were before them As soon as they had had enough to eat and drink | F3 |
| they wanted music and dancing which are the crowning embellishments | E3 |
| of a banquet so a servant brought a lyre to Phemius whom they | I |
| compelled perforce to sing to them As soon as he touched his lyre and | T2 |
| began to sing Telemachus spoke low to Minerva with his head close | E3 |
| to hers that no man might hear | R2 |
| I hope sir said he that you will not be offended with what I | M |
| am going to say Singing comes cheap to those who do not pay for it | A2 |
| and all this is done at the cost of one whose bones lie rotting in | L2 |
| some wilderness or grinding to powder in the surf If these men were | C2 |
| to see my father come back to Ithaca they would pray for longer legs | E3 |
| rather than a longer purse for money would not serve them but he | E |
| alas has fallen on an ill fate and even when people do sometimes say | I |
| that he is coming we no longer heed them we shall never see him | X |
| again And now sir tell me and tell me true who you are and where | G3 |
| you come from Tell me of your town and parents what manner of ship | H3 |
| you came in how your crew brought you to Ithaca and of what nation | I3 |
| they declared themselves to be for you cannot have come by land Tell | J3 |
| me also truly for I want to know are you a stranger to this house | E3 |
| or have you been here in my father's time In the old days we had many | E |
| visitors for my father went about much himself | K3 |
| And Minerva answered I will tell you truly and particularly all | H |
| about it I am Mentes son of Anchialus and I am King of the | S |
| Taphians I have come here with my ship and crew on a voyage to men | P2 |
| of a foreign tongue being bound for Temesa with a cargo of iron and I | M |
| shall bring back copper As for my ship it lies over yonder off the | S |
| open country away from the town in the harbour Rheithron under the | S |
| wooded mountain Neritum Our fathers were friends before us as old | L3 |
| Laertes will tell you if you will go and ask him They say | I |
| however that he never comes to town now and lives by himself in | L2 |
| the country faring hardly with an old woman to look after him and | T2 |
| get his dinner for him when he comes in tired from pottering about | M3 |
| his vineyard They told me your father was at home again and that was | E3 |
| why I came but it seems the gods are still keeping him back for he | E |
| is not dead yet not on the mainland It is more likely he is on some | N3 |
| sea girt island in mid ocean or a prisoner among savages who are | O3 |
| detaining him against his will I am no prophet and know very little | P3 |
| about omens but I speak as it is borne in upon me from heaven and | T2 |
| assure you that he will not be away much longer for he is a man of | E2 |
| such resource that even though he were in chains of iron he would find | N2 |
| some means of getting home again But tell me and tell me true can | B2 |
| Ulysses really have such a fine looking fellow for a son You are | O3 |
| indeed wonderfully like him about the head and eyes for we were close | E3 |
| friends before he set sail for Troy where the flower of all the | S |
| Argives went also Since that time we have never either of us seen the | S |
| other | C2 |
| My mother answered Telemachus tells me I am son to Ulysses | E3 |
| but it is a wise child that knows his own father Would that I were | C2 |
| son to one who had grown old upon his own estates for since you | L |
| ask me there is no more ill starred man under heaven than he who they | I |
| tell me is my father | C2 |
| And Minerva said There is no fear of your race dying out yet | B3 |
| while Penelope has such a fine son as you are But tell me and tell | J3 |
| me true what is the meaning of all this feasting and who are these | E3 |
| people What is it all about Have you some banquet or is there a | S |
| wedding in the family for no one seems to be bringing any | E |
| provisions of his own And the guests how atrociously they are | O3 |
| behaving what riot they make over the whole house it is enough to | L |
| disgust any respectable person who comes near them | J |
| Sir said Telemachus as regards your question so long as my | M |
| father was here it was well with us and with the house but the gods | E3 |
| in their displeasure have willed it otherwise and have hidden him | X |
| away more closely than mortal man was ever yet hidden I could have | A3 |
| borne it better even though he were dead if he had fallen with his | E3 |
| men before Troy or had died with friends around him when the days | E3 |
| of his fighting were done for then the Achaeans would have built a | S |
| mound over his ashes and I should myself have been heir to his | E3 |
| renown but now the storm winds have spirited him away we know not | K |
| wither he is gone without leaving so much as a trace behind him | X |
| and I inherit nothing but dismay Nor does the matter end simply | E |
| with grief for the loss of my father heaven has laid sorrows upon | Q3 |
| me of yet another kind for the chiefs from all our islands | E3 |
| Dulichium Same and the woodland island of Zacynthus as also all the | S |
| principal men of Ithaca itself are eating up my house under the | S |
| pretext of paying their court to my mother who will neither point | R3 |
| blank say that she will not marry nor yet bring matters to an end so | E3 |
| they are making havoc of my estate and before long will do so also | E3 |
| with myself | K3 |
| Is that so exclaimed Minerva then you do indeed want Ulysses | E3 |
| home again Give him his helmet shield and a couple lances and if | S3 |
| he is the man he was when I first knew him in our house drinking | O |
| and making merry he would soon lay his hands about these rascally | E |
| suitors were he to stand once more upon his own threshold He was | E3 |
| then coming from Ephyra where he had been to beg poison for his | E3 |
| arrows from Ilus son of Mermerus Ilus feared the ever living gods | E3 |
| and would not give him any but my father let him have some for he | E |
| was very fond of him If Ulysses is the man he then was these | E3 |
| suitors will have a short shrift and a sorry wedding | O |
| But there It rests with heaven to determine whether he is to | L |
| return and take his revenge in his own house or no I would however | C2 |
| urge you to set about trying to get rid of these suitors at once Take | V |
| my advice call the Achaean heroes in assembly to morrow lay your | K2 |
| case before them and call heaven to bear you witness Bid the suitors | E3 |
| take themselves off each to his own place and if your mother's | E3 |
| mind is set on marrying again let her go back to her father who will | E |
| find her a husband and provide her with all the marriage gifts that so | E3 |
| dear a daughter may expect As for yourself let me prevail upon you | L |
| to take the best ship you can get with a crew of twenty men and go | E3 |
| in quest of your father who has so long been missing Some one may | I |
| tell you something or and people often hear things in this way some | N3 |
| heaven sent message may direct you First go to Pylos and ask | T3 |
| Nestor thence go on to Sparta and visit Menelaus for he got home | P |
| last of all the Achaeans if you hear that your father is alive and on | Q3 |
| his way home you can put up with the waste these suitors will make | V |
| for yet another twelve months If on the other hand you hear of his | E3 |
| death come home at once celebrate his funeral rites with all due | L |
| pomp build a barrow to his memory and make your mother marry | E |
| again Then having done all this think it well over in your mind | N2 |
| how by fair means or foul you may kill these suitors in your own | U3 |
| house You are too old to plead infancy any longer have you not heard | V3 |
| how people are singing Orestes' praises for having killed his father's | E3 |
| murderer Aegisthus You are a fine smart looking fellow show your | K2 |
| mettle then and make yourself a name in story Now however I | M |
| must go back to my ship and to my crew who will be impatient if I | M |
| keep them waiting longer think the matter over for yourself and | T2 |
| remember what I have said to you | L |
| Sir answered Telemachus it has been very kind of you to talk to | L |
| me in this way as though I were your own son and I will do all you | L |
| tell me I know you want to be getting on with your voyage but stay a | S |
| little longer till you have taken a bath and refreshed yourself I | M |
| will then give you a present and you shall go on your way | I |
| rejoicing I will give you one of great beauty and value a keepsake | V |
| such as only dear friends give to one another | C2 |
| Minerva answered Do not try to keep me for I would be on my way | I |
| at once As for any present you may be disposed to make me keep it | A2 |
| till I come again and I will take it home with me You shall give | W3 |
| me a very good one and I will give you one of no less value in | L2 |
| return | X3 |
| With these words she flew away like a bird into the air but she had | Y3 |
| given Telemachus courage and had made him think more than ever | C2 |
| about his father He felt the change wondered at it and knew that | T |
| the stranger had been a god so he went straight to where the | S |
| suitors were sitting | O |
| Phemius was still singing and his hearers sat rapt in silence as he | E |
| told the sad tale of the return from Troy and the ills Minerva had | Y3 |
| laid upon the Achaeans Penelope daughter of Icarius heard his | E3 |
| song from her room upstairs and came down by the great staircase not | K |
| alone but attended by two of her handmaids When she reached the | S |
| suitors she stood by one of the bearing posts that supported the | S |
| roof of the cloisters with a staid maiden on either side of her She | E |
| held a veil moreover before her face and was weeping bitterly | E |
| Phemius she cried you know many another feat of gods and | T2 |
| heroes such as poets love to celebrate Sing the suitors some one | I3 |
| of these and let them drink their wine in silence but cease this sad | Y3 |
| tale for it breaks my sorrowful heart and reminds me of my lost | Z3 |
| husband whom I mourn ever without ceasing and whose name was great | A4 |
| over all Hellas and middle Argos | E3 |
| Mother answered Telemachus let the bard sing what he has a mind | N2 |
| to bards do not make the ills they sing of it is Jove not they who | L |
| makes them and who sends weal or woe upon mankind according to his | E3 |
| own good pleasure This fellow means no harm by singing the | S |
| ill fated return of the Danaans for people always applaud the | S |
| latest songs most warmly Make up your mind to it and bear it Ulysses | E3 |
| is not the only man who never came back from Troy but many another | C2 |
| went down as well as he Go then within the house and busy | E3 |
| yourself with your daily duties your loom your distaff and the | S |
| ordering of your servants for speech is man's matter and mine | B4 |
| above all others for it is I who am master here | R2 |
| She went wondering back into the house and laid her son's saying in | L2 |
| her heart Then going upstairs with her handmaids into her room | C4 |
| she mourned her dear husband till Minerva shed sweet sleep over her | C2 |
| eyes But the suitors were clamorous throughout the covered cloisters | E3 |
| and prayed each one that he might be her bed fellow | E3 |
| Then Telemachus spoke Shameless he cried and insolent suitors | E3 |
| let us feast at our pleasure now and let there be no brawling for it | A2 |
| is a rare thing to hear a man with such a divine voice as Phemius has | E3 |
| but in the morning meet me in full assembly that I may give you formal | E |
| notice to depart and feast at one another's houses turn and turn | X3 |
| about at your own cost If on the other hand you choose to persist in | L2 |
| spunging upon one man heaven help me but Jove shall reckon with | M2 |
| you in full and when you fall in my father's house there shall be | E3 |
| no man to avenge you | L |
| The suitors bit their lips as they heard him and marvelled at the | S |
| boldness of his speech Then Antinous son of Eupeithes said The | S |
| gods seem to have given you lessons in bluster and tall talking may | I |
| Jove never grant you to be chief in Ithaca as your father was before | K2 |
| you | L |
| Telemachus answered Antinous do not chide with me but god | G |
| willing I will be chief too if I can Is this the worst fate you | L |
| can think of for me It is no bad thing to be a chief for it brings | E3 |
| both riches and honour Still now that Ulysses is dead there are many | E3 |
| great men in Ithaca both old and young and some other may take the | S |
| lead among them nevertheless I will be chief in my own house and | T2 |
| will rule those whom Ulysses has won for me | E3 |
| Then Eurymachus son of Polybus answered It rests with heaven | I3 |
| to decide who shall be chief among us but you shall be master in your | K2 |
| own house and over your own possessions no one while there is a man | B2 |
| in Ithaca shall do you violence nor rob you And now my good | J2 |
| fellow I want to know about this stranger What country does he | E3 |
| come from Of what family is he and where is his estate Has he | E3 |
| brought you news about the return of your father or was he on | Q3 |
| business of his own He seemed a well to do man but he hurried off so | E3 |
| suddenly that he was gone in a moment before we could get to know | E3 |
| him | X |
| My father is dead and gone answered Telemachus and even if some | N3 |
| rumour reaches me I put no more faith in it now My mother does indeed | D4 |
| sometimes send for a soothsayer and question him but I give his | E3 |
| prophecyings no heed As for the stranger he was Mentes son of | E2 |
| Anchialus chief of the Taphians an old friend of my father's But | B |
| in his heart he knew that it had been the goddess | E3 |
| The suitors then returned to their singing and dancing until the | S |
| evening but when night fell upon their pleasuring they went home to | L |
| bed each in his own abode Telemachus's room was high up in a tower | C2 |
| that looked on to the outer court hither then he hied brooding and | T2 |
| full of thought A good old woman Euryclea daughter of Ops the | S |
| son of Pisenor went before him with a couple of blazing torches | E3 |
| Laertes had bought her with his own money when she was quite young he | E3 |
| gave the worth of twenty oxen for her and shewed as much respect to | L |
| her in his household as he did to his own wedded wife but he did | E4 |
| not take her to his bed for he feared his wife's resentment She it | A2 |
| was who now lighted Telemachus to his room and she loved him better | C2 |
| than any of the other women in the house did for she had nursed him | X |
| when he was a baby He opened the door of his bed room and sat down | F4 |
| upon the bed as he took off his shirt he gave it to the good old | L3 |
| woman who folded it tidily up and hung it for him over a peg by | M |
| his bed side after which she went out pulled the door to by a silver | C2 |
| catch and drew the bolt home by means of the strap But Telemachus as | E3 |
| he lay covered with a woollen fleece kept thinking all night through | L |
| of his intended voyage of the counsel that Minerva had given him | X |
Homer
(1)
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