The Odyssey: Book 02 Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGDBGHHIJKHLMHN NOPGJQRIQSTUVRPWFXHY SKFZA2HSB2NUHHHSC2D2 E2F2QNZNHNHG2MH2I2HJ 2SK2L2M2N2JD2WQHZHO2 JP2G2HDO2JQ2R2HQJE2H NZO2HH2HRNS2G2T2NNLA 2QLD2U2MV2W2D2RD2X2Y 2HZ2NRD2IHNHHC2D2A3N NNZRB3RB3WJQ2ZJFVHC3 FD3QHE3F3FRD2W2GNJF3 SIFQQHLSWHHKT2G3NWNH 2HW2W2HH3KNHS2KD2A2H HRI3W2RHHI3ED2QW2E2J EHNO2RE3D2J3K3QRSHLQ O2L3RQA2H3NNFJD2M3I2 JNN3A2M2O3D2QSWNQB3Q QNS2QQQPP3QI3JFCA3NU K2E2W2C2JQJNQNW2QFO2 LM2C2DQQ3D2QQR3QS3NF QRJRD2XRXFQ2LT3QC3QJ G2QM2JG2FRKG2LQO2QU3 EQV3FFRG2| Now when the child of morning rosy fingered Dawn appeared | A |
| Telemachus rose and dressed himself He bound his sandals on to his | B |
| comely feet girded his sword about his shoulder and left his room | C |
| looking like an immortal god He at once sent the criers round to call | D |
| the people in assembly so they called them and the people gathered | E |
| thereon then when they were got together he went to the place of | F |
| assembly spear in hand not alone for his two hounds went with him | G |
| Minerva endowed him with a presence of such divine comeliness that all | D |
| marvelled at him as he went by and when he took his place' in his | B |
| father's seat even the oldest councillors made way for him | G |
| Aegyptius a man bent double with age and of infinite experience | H |
| the first to speak His son Antiphus had gone with Ulysses to Ilius | H |
| land of noble steeds but the savage Cyclops had killed him when | I |
| they were all shut up in the cave and had cooked his last dinner | J |
| for him He had three sons left of whom two still worked on their | K |
| father's land while the third Eurynomus was one of the suitors | H |
| nevertheless their father could not get over the loss of Antiphus and | L |
| was still weeping for him when he began his speech | M |
| Men of Ithaca he said hear my words From the day Ulysses | H |
| left us there has been no meeting of our councillors until now who | N |
| then can it be whether old or young that finds it so necessary to | N |
| convene us Has he got wind of some host approaching and does he wish | O |
| to warn us or would he speak upon some other matter of public moment | P |
| I am sure he is an excellent person and I hope Jove will grant him | G |
| his heart's desire | J |
| Telemachus took this speech as of good omen and rose at once for he | Q |
| was bursting with what he had to say He stood in the middle of the | R |
| assembly and the good herald Pisenor brought him his staff Then | I |
| turning to Aegyptius Sir said he it is I as you will shortly | Q |
| learn who have convened you for it is I who am the most aggrieved I | S |
| have not got wind of any host approaching about which I would warn | T |
| you nor is there any matter of public moment on which I would | U |
| speak My grieveance is purely personal and turns on two great | V |
| misfortunes which have fallen upon my house The first of these is the | R |
| loss of my excellent father who was chief among all you here present | P |
| and was like a father to every one of you the second is much more | W |
| serious and ere long will be the utter ruin of my estate The sons of | F |
| all the chief men among you are pestering my mother to marry them | X |
| against her will They are afraid to go to her father Icarius | H |
| asking him to choose the one he likes best and to provide marriage | Y |
| gifts for his daughter but day by day they keep hanging about my | S |
| father's house sacrificing our oxen sheep and fat goats for their | K |
| banquets and never giving so much as a thought to the quantity of | F |
| wine they drink No estate can stand such recklessness we have now no | Z |
| Ulysses to ward off harm from our doors and I cannot hold my own | A2 |
| against them I shall never all my days be as good a man as he was | H |
| still I would indeed defend myself if I had power to do so for I | S |
| cannot stand such treatment any longer my house is being disgraced | B2 |
| and ruined Have respect therefore to your own consciences and to | N |
| public opinion Fear too the wrath of heaven lest the gods should | U |
| be displeased and turn upon you I pray you by Jove and Themis who is | H |
| the beginning and the end of councils do not hold back my friends | H |
| and leave me singlehanded unless it be that my brave father Ulysses | H |
| did some wrong to the Achaeans which you would now avenge on me by | S |
| aiding and abetting these suitors Moreover if I am to be eaten out | C2 |
| of house and home at all I had rather you did the eating | D2 |
| yourselves for I could then take action against you to some | E2 |
| purpose and serve you with notices from house to house till I got | F2 |
| paid in full whereas now I have no remedy | Q |
| With this Telemachus dashed his staff to the ground and burst into | N |
| tears Every one was very sorry for him but they all sat still and no | Z |
| one ventured to make him an angry answer save only Antinous who | N |
| spoke thus | H |
| Telemachus insolent braggart that you are how dare you try to | N |
| throw the blame upon us suitors It is your mother's fault not ours | H |
| for she is a very artful woman This three years past and close on | G2 |
| four she has been driving us out of our minds by encouraging each | M |
| one of us and sending him messages without meaning one word of what | H2 |
| she says And then there was that other trick she played us She set | I2 |
| up a great tambour frame in her room and began to work on an enormous | H |
| piece of fine needlework 'Sweet hearts ' said she 'Ulysses is indeed | J2 |
| dead still do not press me to marry again immediately wait for I | S |
| would not have skill in needlework perish unrecorded till I have | K2 |
| completed a pall for the hero Laertes to be in readiness against | L2 |
| the time when death shall take him He is very rich and the women | M2 |
| of the place will talk if he is laid out without a pall ' | N2 |
| This was what she said and we assented whereon we could see her | J |
| working on her great web all day long but at night she would unpick | D2 |
| the stitches again by torchlight She fooled us in this way for | W |
| three years and we never found her out but as time wore on and she | Q |
| was now in her fourth year one of her maids who knew what she was | H |
| doing told us and we caught her in the act of undoing her work so | Z |
| she had to finish it whether she would or no The suitors | H |
| therefore make you this answer that both you and the Achaeans may | O2 |
| understand 'Send your mother away and bid her marry the man of her | J |
| own and of her father's choice' for I do not know what will happen if | P2 |
| she goes on plaguing us much longer with the airs she gives herself on | G2 |
| the score of the accomplishments Minerva has taught her and because | H |
| she is so clever We never yet heard of such a woman we know all | D |
| about Tyro Alcmena Mycene and the famous women of old but they | O2 |
| were nothing to your mother any one of them It was not fair of her | J |
| to treat us in that way and as long as she continues in the mind with | Q2 |
| which heaven has now endowed her so long shall we go on eating up | R2 |
| your estate and I do not see why she should change for she gets | H |
| all the honour and glory and it is you who pay for it not she | Q |
| Understand then that we will not go back to our lands neither | J |
| here nor elsewhere till she has made her choice and married some | E2 |
| one or other of us | H |
| Telemachus answered Antinous how can I drive the mother who | N |
| bore me from my father's house My father is abroad and we do not know | Z |
| whether he is alive or dead It will be hard on me if I have to pay | O2 |
| Icarius the large sum which I must give him if I insist on sending his | H |
| daughter back to him Not only will he deal rigorously with me but | H2 |
| heaven will also punish me for my mother when she leaves the house | H |
| will calf on the Erinyes to avenge her besides it would not be a | R |
| creditable thing to do and I will have nothing to say to it If you | N |
| choose to take offence at this leave the house and feast elsewhere at | S2 |
| one another's houses at your own cost turn and turn about If on | G2 |
| the other hand you elect to persist in spunging upon one man | T2 |
| heaven help me but Jove shall reckon with you in full and when you | N |
| fall in my father's house there shall be no man to avenge you | N |
| As he spoke Jove sent two eagles from the top of the mountain and | L |
| they flew on and on with the wind sailing side by side in their own | A2 |
| lordly flight When they were right over the middle of the assembly | Q |
| they wheeled and circled about beating the air with their wings and | L |
| glaring death into the eyes of them that were below then fighting | D2 |
| fiercely and tearing at one another they flew off towards the right | U2 |
| over the town The people wondered as they saw them and asked each | M |
| other what an this might be whereon Halitherses who was the best | V2 |
| prophet and reader of omens among them spoke to them plainly and in | W2 |
| all honesty saying | D2 |
| Hear me men of Ithaca and I speak more particularly to the | R |
| suitors for I see mischief brewing for them Ulysses is not going | D2 |
| to be away much longer indeed he is close at hand to deal out death | X2 |
| and destruction not on them alone but on many another of us who live | Y2 |
| in Ithaca Let us then be wise in time and put a stop to this | H |
| wickedness before he comes Let the suitors do so of their own accord | Z2 |
| it will be better for them for I am not prophesying without due | N |
| knowledge everything has happened to Ulysses as I foretold when the | R |
| Argives set out for Troy and he with them I said that after going | D2 |
| through much hardship and losing all his men he should come home again | I |
| in the twentieth year and that no one would know him and now all this | H |
| is coming true | N |
| Eurymachus son of Polybus then said Go home old man and prophesy | H |
| to your own children or it may be worse for them I can read these | H |
| omens myself much better than you can birds are always flying about | C2 |
| in the sunshine somewhere or other but they seldom mean anything | D2 |
| Ulysses has died in a far country and it is a pity you are not dead | A3 |
| along with him instead of prating here about omens and adding fuel to | N |
| the anger of Telemachus which is fierce enough as it is I suppose you | N |
| think he will give you something for your family but I tell you | N |
| and it shall surely be when an old man like you who should know | Z |
| better talks a young one over till he becomes troublesome in the | R |
| first place his young friend will only fare so much the worse he will | B3 |
| take nothing by it for the suitors will prevent this and in the | R |
| next we will lay a heavier fine sir upon yourself than you will | B3 |
| at all like paying for it will bear hardly upon you As for | W |
| Telemachus I warn him in the presence of you all to send his mother | J |
| back to her father who will find her a husband and provide her with | Q2 |
| all the marriage gifts so dear a daughter may expect Till we shall go | Z |
| on harassing him with our suit for we fear no man and care neither | J |
| for him with all his fine speeches nor for any fortune telling of | F |
| yours You may preach as much as you please but we shall only hate | V |
| you the more We shall go back and continue to eat up Telemachus's | H |
| estate without paying him till such time as his mother leaves off | C3 |
| tormenting us by keeping us day after day on the tiptoe of | F |
| expectation each vying with the other in his suit for a prize of such | D3 |
| rare perfection Besides we cannot go after the other women whom we | Q |
| should marry in due course but for the way in which she treats us | H |
| Then Telemachus said Eurymachus and you other suitors I shall | E3 |
| say no more and entreat you no further for the gods and the people | F3 |
| of Ithaca now know my story Give me then a ship and a crew of | F |
| twenty men to take me hither and thither and I will go to Sparta | R |
| and to Pylos in quest of my father who has so long been missing | D2 |
| Some one may tell me something or and people often hear things in | W2 |
| this way some heaven sent message may direct me If I can hear of him | G |
| as alive and on his way home I will put up with the waste you | N |
| suitors will make for yet another twelve months If on the other | J |
| hand I hear of his death I will return at once celebrate his funeral | F3 |
| rites with all due pomp build a barrow to his memory and make my | S |
| mother marry again | I |
| With these words he sat down and Mentor who had been a friend of | F |
| Ulysses and had been left in charge of everything with full authority | Q |
| over the servants rose to speak He then plainly and in all honesty | Q |
| addressed them thus | H |
| Hear me men of Ithaca I hope that you may never have a kind and | L |
| well disposed ruler any more nor one who will govern you equitably I | S |
| hope that all your chiefs henceforward may be cruel and unjust for | W |
| there is not one of you but has forgotten Ulysses who ruled you as | H |
| though he were your father I am not half so angry with the suitors | H |
| for if they choose to do violence in the naughtiness of their | K |
| hearts and wager their heads that Ulysses will not return they can | T2 |
| take the high hand and eat up his estate but as for you others I am | G3 |
| shocked at the way in which you all sit still without even trying to | N |
| stop such scandalous goings on which you could do if you chose for | W |
| you are many and they are few | N |
| Leiocritus son of Evenor answered him saying Mentor what | H2 |
| folly is all this that you should set the people to stay us It is | H |
| a hard thing for one man to fight with many about his victuals Even | W2 |
| though Ulysses himself were to set upon us while we are feasting in | W2 |
| his house and do his best to oust us his wife who wants him back so | H |
| very badly would have small cause for rejoicing and his blood | H3 |
| would be upon his own head if he fought against such great odds There | K |
| is no sense in what you have been saying Now therefore do you | N |
| people go about your business and let his father's old friends | H |
| Mentor and Halitherses speed this boy on his journey if he goes at | S2 |
| all which I do not think he will for he is more likely to stay where | K |
| he is till some one comes and tells him something | D2 |
| On this he broke up the assembly and every man went back to his own | A2 |
| abode while the suitors returned to the house of Ulysses | H |
| Then Telemachus went all alone by the sea side washed his hands | H |
| in the grey waves and prayed to Minerva | R |
| Hear me he cried you god who visited me yesterday and bade | I3 |
| me sail the seas in search of my father who has so long been | W2 |
| missing I would obey you but the Achaeans and more particularly the | R |
| wicked suitors are hindering me that I cannot do so | H |
| As he thus prayed Minerva came close up to him in the likeness | H |
| and with the voice of Mentor Telemachus said she if you are made | I3 |
| of the same stuff as your father you will be neither fool nor coward | E |
| henceforward for Ulysses never broke his word nor left his work | D2 |
| half done If then you take after him your voyage will not be | Q |
| fruitless but unless you have the blood of Ulysses and of Penelope in | W2 |
| your veins I see no likelihood of your succeeding Sons are seldom | E2 |
| as good men as their fathers they are generally worse not better | J |
| still as you are not going to be either fool or coward | E |
| henceforward and are not entirely without some share of your father's | H |
| wise discernment I look with hope upon your undertaking But mind you | N |
| never make common cause with any of those foolish suitors for they | O2 |
| have neither sense nor virtue and give no thought to death and to the | R |
| doom that will shortly fall on one and all of them so that they shall | E3 |
| perish on the same day As for your voyage it shall not be long | D2 |
| delayed your father was such an old friend of mine that I will find | J3 |
| you a ship and will come with you myself Now however return | K3 |
| home and go about among the suitors begin getting provisions ready | Q |
| for your voyage see everything well stowed the wine in jars and the | R |
| barley meal which is the staff of life in leathern bags while I | S |
| go round the town and beat up volunteers at once There are many ships | H |
| in Ithaca both old and new I will run my eye over them for you and | L |
| will choose the best we will get her ready and will put out to sea | Q |
| without delay | O2 |
| Thus spoke Minerva daughter of Jove and Telemachus lost no time | L3 |
| in doing as the goddess told him He went moodily and found the | R |
| suitors flaying goats and singeing pigs in the outer court Antinous | Q |
| came up to him at once and laughed as he took his hand in his own | A2 |
| saying Telemachus my fine fire eater bear no more ill blood | H3 |
| neither in word nor deed but eat and drink with us as you used to do | N |
| The Achaeans will find you in everything a ship and a picked crew | N |
| to boot so that you can set sail for Pylos at once and get news of | F |
| your noble father | J |
| Antinous answered Telemachus I cannot eat in peace nor take | D2 |
| pleasure of any kind with such men as you are Was it not enough | M3 |
| that you should waste so much good property of mine while I was yet | I2 |
| a boy Now that I am older and know more about it I am also stronger | J |
| and whether here among this people or by going to Pylos I will do | N |
| you all the harm I can I shall go and my going will not be in vain | N3 |
| though thanks to you suitors I have neither ship nor crew of my own | A2 |
| and must be passenger not captain | M2 |
| As he spoke he snatched his hand from that of Antinous Meanwhile | O3 |
| the others went on getting dinner ready about the buildings jeering | D2 |
| at him tauntingly as they did so | Q |
| Telemachus said one youngster means to be the death of us I | S |
| suppose he thinks he can bring friends to help him from Pylos or | W |
| again from Sparta where he seems bent on going Or will he go to | N |
| Ephyra as well for poison to put in our wine and kill us | Q |
| Another said Perhaps if Telemachus goes on board ship he will | B3 |
| be like his father and perish far from his friends In this case we | Q |
| should have plenty to do for we could then divide up his property | Q |
| amongst us as for the house we can let his mother and the man who | N |
| marries her have that | S2 |
| This was how they talked But Telemachus went down into the lofty | Q |
| and spacious store room where his father's treasure of gold and bronze | Q |
| lay heaped up upon the floor and where the linen and spare clothes | Q |
| were kept in open chests Here too there was a store of fragrant | P |
| olive oil while casks of old well ripened wine unblended and fit | P3 |
| for a god to drink were ranged against the wall in case Ulysses | Q |
| should come home again after all The room was closed with well made | I3 |
| doors opening in the middle moreover the faithful old house keeper | J |
| Euryclea daughter of Ops the son of Pisenor was in charge of | F |
| everything both night and day Telemachus called her to the store room | C |
| and said | A3 |
| Nurse draw me off some of the best wine you have after what you | N |
| are keeping for my father's own drinking in case poor man he should | U |
| escape death and find his way home again after all Let me have | K2 |
| twelve jars and see that they all have lids also fill me some | E2 |
| well sewn leathern bags with barley meal about twenty measures in | W2 |
| all Get these things put together at once and say nothing about | C2 |
| it I will take everything away this evening as soon as my mother | J |
| has gone upstairs for the night I am going to Sparta and to Pylos | Q |
| to see if I can hear anything about the return of my dear father | J |
| When Euryclea heard this she began to cry and spoke fondly to | N |
| him saying My dear child what ever can have put such notion as | Q |
| that into your head Where in the world do you want to go to you who | N |
| are the one hope of the house Your poor father is dead and gone in | W2 |
| some foreign country nobody knows where and as soon as your back is | Q |
| turned these wicked ones here will be scheming to get you put out of | F |
| the way and will share all your possessions among themselves stay | O2 |
| where you are among your own people and do not go wandering and | L |
| worrying your life out on the barren ocean | M2 |
| Fear not nurse answered Telemachus my scheme is not without | C2 |
| heaven's sanction but swear that you will say nothing about all | D |
| this to my mother till I have been away some ten or twelve days | Q |
| unless she hears of my having gone and asks you for I do not want | Q3 |
| her to spoil her beauty by crying | D2 |
| The old woman swore most solemnly that she would not and when she | Q |
| had completed her oath she began drawing off the wine into jars | Q |
| and getting the barley meal into the bags while Telemachus went | R3 |
| back to the suitors | Q |
| Then Minerva bethought her of another matter She took his shape | S3 |
| and went round the town to each one of the crew telling them to | N |
| meet at the ship by sundown She went also to Noemon son of | F |
| Phronius and asked him to let her have a ship which he was very | Q |
| ready to do When the sun had set and darkness was over all the | R |
| land she got the ship into the water put all the tackle on board her | J |
| that ships generally carry and stationed her at the end of the | R |
| harbour Presently the crew came up and the goddess spoke | D2 |
| encouragingly to each of them | X |
| Furthermore she went to the house of Ulysses and threw the | R |
| suitors into a deep slumber She caused their drink to fuddle them | X |
| and made them drop their cups from their hands so that instead of | F |
| sitting over their wine they went back into the town to sleep with | Q2 |
| their eyes heavy and full of drowsiness Then she took the form and | L |
| voice of Mentor and called Telemachus to come outside | T3 |
| Telemachus said she the men are on board and at their oars | Q |
| waiting for you to give your orders so make haste and let us be off | C3 |
| On this she led the way while Telemachus followed in her steps | Q |
| When they got to the ship they found the crew waiting by the water | J |
| side and Telemachus said Now my men help me to get the stores on | G2 |
| board they are all put together in the cloister and my mother does | Q |
| not know anything about it nor any of the maid servants except one | M2 |
| With these words he led the way and the others followed after | J |
| When they had brought the things as he told them Telemachus went on | G2 |
| board Minerva going before him and taking her seat in the stern of | F |
| the vessel while Telemachus sat beside her Then the men loosed the | R |
| hawsers and took their places on the benches Minerva sent them a fair | K |
| wind from the West that whistled over the deep blue waves whereon | G2 |
| Telemachus told them to catch hold of the ropes and hoist sail and | L |
| they did as he told them They set the mast in its socket in the cross | Q |
| plank raised it and made it fast with the forestays then they | O2 |
| hoisted their white sails aloft with ropes of twisted ox hide As | Q |
| the sail bellied out with the wind the ship flew through the deep | U3 |
| blue water and the foam hissed against her bows as she sped onward | E |
| Then they made all fast throughout the ship filled the mixing bowls | Q |
| to the brim and made drink offerings to the immortal gods that are | V3 |
| from everlasting but more particularly to the grey eyed daughter of | F |
| Jove | F |
| Thus then the ship sped on her way through the watches of the | R |
| night from dark till dawn | G2 |
Homer
(1)
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