The Odyssey: Book 5 Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSR CTRDHUNVWXWLYZA2CJLC B2FC2LED2CB2E2B2QF2H G2H2WWI2WJ2K2EFVELVL 2H2RWF2M2WRN2EEEO2B2 P2WWNIEQ2LWBRWQ2RER2 F2S2EHEB2EQTTLBT2EU2 V2ELEWTM2B2LUW2HLAnd now as Dawn rose from her couch beside Tithonus harbinger of | A |
light alike to mortals and immortals the gods met in council and with | B |
them Jove the lord of thunder who is their king Thereon Minerva | C |
began to tell them of the many sufferings of Ulysses for she pitied | D |
him away there in the house of the nymph Calypso | E |
Father Jove said she and all you other gods that live in | F |
everlasting bliss I hope there may never be such a thing as a kind | G |
and well disposed ruler any more nor one who will govern equitably I | H |
hope they will be all henceforth cruel and unjust for there is not | I |
one of his subjects but has forgotten Ulysses who ruled them as | J |
though he were their father There he is lying in great pain in an | K |
island where dwells the nymph Calypso who will not let him go and he | L |
cannot get back to his own country for he can find neither ships | M |
nor sailors to take him over the sea Furthermore wicked people are | N |
now trying to murder his only son Telemachus who is coming home | O |
from Pylos and Lacedaemon where he has been to see if he can get news | P |
of his father | Q |
What my dear are you talking about replied her father did you | R |
not send him there yourself because you thought it would help Ulysses | S |
to get home and punish the suitors Besides you are perfectly able to | R |
protect Telemachus and to see him safely home again while the | C |
suitors have to come hurry skurrying back without having killed him | T |
When he had thus spoken he said to his son Mercury Mercury you | R |
are our messenger go therefore and tell Calypso we have decreed | D |
that poor Ulysses is to return home He is to be convoyed neither by | H |
gods nor men but after a perilous voyage of twenty days upon a raft | U |
he is to reach fertile Scheria the land of the Phaeacians who are | N |
near of kin to the gods and will honour him as though he were one | V |
of ourselves They will send him in a ship to his own country and | W |
will give him more bronze and gold and raiment than he would have | X |
brought back from Troy if he had had had all his prize money and | W |
had got home without disaster This is how we have settled that he | L |
shall return to his country and his friends | Y |
Thus he spoke and Mercury guide and guardian slayer of Argus did | Z |
as he was told Forthwith he bound on his glittering golden sandals | A2 |
with which he could fly like the wind over land and sea He took the | C |
wand with which he seals men's eyes in sleep or wakes them just as | J |
he pleases and flew holding it in his hand over Pieria then he | L |
swooped down through the firmament till he reached the level of the | C |
sea whose waves he skimmed like a cormorant that flies fishing | B2 |
every hole and corner of the ocean and drenching its thick plumage in | F |
the spray He flew and flew over many a weary wave but when at last | C2 |
he got to the island which was his journey's end he left the sea | L |
and went on by land till he came to the cave where the nymph Calypso | E |
lived | D2 |
He found her at home There was a large fire burning on the | C |
hearth and one could smell from far the fragrant reek of burning | B2 |
cedar and sandal wood As for herself she was busy at her loom | E2 |
shooting her golden shuttle through the warp and singing | B2 |
beautifully Round her cave there was a thick wood of alder poplar | Q |
and sweet smelling cypress trees wherein all kinds of great birds had | F2 |
built their nests owls hawks and chattering sea crows that occupy | H |
their business in the waters A vine loaded with grapes was trained | G2 |
and grew luxuriantly about the mouth of the cave there were also four | H2 |
running rills of water in channels cut pretty close together and | W |
turned hither and thither so as to irrigate the beds of violets and | W |
luscious herbage over which they flowed Even a god could not help | I2 |
being charmed with such a lovely spot so Mercury stood still and | W |
looked at it but when he had admired it sufficiently he went inside | J2 |
the cave | K2 |
Calypso knew him at once for the gods all know each other no | E |
matter how far they live from one another but Ulysses was not within | F |
he was on the sea shore as usual looking out upon the barren ocean | V |
with tears in his eyes groaning and breaking his heart for sorrow | E |
Calypso gave Mercury a seat and said Why have you come to see me | L |
Mercury honoured and ever welcome for you do not visit me often | V |
Say what you want I will do it for be you at once if I can and if it | L2 |
can be done at all but come inside and let me set refreshment before | H2 |
you | R |
As she spoke she drew a table loaded with ambrosia beside him and | W |
mixed him some red nectar so Mercury ate and drank till he had had | F2 |
enough and then said | M2 |
We are speaking god and goddess to one another one another and | W |
you ask me why I have come here and I will tell you truly as you | R |
would have me do Jove sent me it was no doing of mine who could | N2 |
possibly want to come all this way over the sea where there are no | E |
cities full of people to offer me sacrifices or choice hecatombs | E |
Nevertheless I had to come for none of us other gods can cross | E |
Jove nor transgress his orders He says that you have here the most | O2 |
ill starred of alf those who fought nine years before the city of King | B2 |
Priam and sailed home in the tenth year after having sacked it On | P2 |
their way home they sinned against Minerva who raised both wind and | W |
waves against them so that all his brave companions perished and | W |
he alone was carried hither by wind and tide Jove says that you are | N |
to let this by man go at once for it is decreed that he shall not | I |
perish here far from his own people but shall return to his house | E |
and country and see his friends again | Q2 |
Calypso trembled with rage when she heard this You gods she | L |
exclaimed to be ashamed of yourselves You are always jealous and | W |
hate seeing a goddess take a fancy to a mortal man and live with | B |
him in open matrimony So when rosy fingered Dawn made love to | R |
Orion you precious gods were all of you furious till Diana went and | W |
killed him in Ortygia So again when Ceres fell in love with Iasion | Q2 |
and yielded to him in a thrice ploughed fallow field Jove came to | R |
hear of it before so long and killed Iasion with his thunder bolts | E |
And now you are angry with me too because I have a man here I found | R2 |
the poor creature sitting all alone astride of a keel for Jove had | F2 |
struck his ship with lightning and sunk it in mid ocean so that all | S2 |
his crew were drowned while he himself was driven by wind and waves | E |
on to my island I got fond of him and cherished him and had set my | H |
heart on making him immortal so that he should never grow old all his | E |
days still I cannot cross Jove nor bring his counsels to nothing | B2 |
therefore if he insists upon it let the man go beyond the seas | E |
again but I cannot send him anywhere myself for I have neither | Q |
ships nor men who can take him Nevertheless I will readily give him | T |
such advice in all good faith as will be likely to bring him | T |
safely to his own country | L |
Then send him away said Mercury or Jove will be angry with | B |
you and punish you ' | T2 |
On this he took his leave and Calypso went out to look for Ulysses | E |
for she had heard Jove's message She found him sitting upon the beach | U2 |
with his eyes ever filled with tears and dying of sheer | V2 |
home sickness for he had got tired of Calypso and though he was | E |
forced to sleep with her in the cave by night it was she not he | L |
that would have it so As for the day time he spent it on the rocks | E |
and on the sea shore weeping crying aloud for his despair and | W |
always looking out upon the sea Calypso then went close up to him | T |
said | M2 |
My poor fellow you shall not stay here grieving and fretting | B2 |
your life out any longer I am going to send you away of my own free | L |
will so go cut some beams of wood and make yourself a large raft | U |
with an upper deck that it may carry you safely over the sea I will | W2 |
put bread wine and water on board to save you from starving I | H |
will also give you clothes and will send you a fair wind t | L |
Homer
(1)
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