The Odyssey: Book 2 Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGDBGHHIJKHLMHN NOPGJQRIQSTUVRPWFXHY SKFZA2HSB2NUHHHSC2D2 E2F2QNZNHNHG2MH2I2HJ 2SK2L2M2N2JD2WQHZHO2 JP2G2HDO2JQ2R2HQJE2H NZO2HH2HRNS2G2T2NNLA 2QLD2U2MV2E2Now 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 ome | E2 |
Homer
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Odyssey: Book 2 poem by Homer
Best Poems of Homer