Plato’s attacks on Homer have to do with the bard’s focus earthly concerns rather than higher ones. Following Plato’s prescriptions, however, will not produce very interesting poetry.
Tag Archives: Odyssey
Defending Homer against Plato
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Henry Fielding, Homer, philosophy, Plato, Republic, Tom Jones Comments closed
Homer’s Warning about Revenge Killings
What will it take to bring peace between police and black communities? Homer has a vision of such a truce at the end of “The Odyssey” but it may not be realistic.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "the meeting after the savior gone 4/4/68", Alton Sterling, Beowulf, Black Lives Matter, Ceremony, Dallas police killings, Grendel's mother, Homer, Leslie Marmon Silko, Lucille Clifton, Philando Castille, race war Comments closed
Trump’s Use of the Homeric Epithet
Donald Trump is making regular use of “the Homeric epithet.” He doesn’t use it as well as Homer, however.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump, Homer, Iliad, politics Comments closed
How To Pin Down Protean Donald Trump
Trying to pin down Donald Trump is like trying to pin down Proteus. But maybe that means that reporters can use the same tactics that Menelaus does to capture the sea god.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Homer, Journalism, political journalism Comments closed
Peyton: Old Age Hath Yet His Honor
Two narratives clash on Super Bowl Sunday: the return of the king vs. the aging king that must be overthrown. Is Peyton Manning Odysseus and the Panthers the suitors? Or is he the dragon who must yield to the next generation?
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alfred Lord Tennyson, Football, Homer, Peyton Manning, Sports, Super Bowl, Ulysses Comments closed
The Odyssey Speaks to Today’s Refugees
“The Odyssey” looked different to a literature teacher after he taught it to a class of Syrian, Iraqi and Palestinian refugees. Homer’s poem challenges us to open our own hearts to those fleeing persecution and war.
Fox, Like Odysseus, Tries to Gouge Trump
A Salon columnist compares Trump to the Cyclops in “The Odyssey.” He has a point.
The Complex Inner Life of Teachers
Lily King’s “The English Teacher” is filled with literary lllusions, most of them thematically important.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Voice", Annabelle Lee, Beowulf, Edgar Allen Poe, Homer, Huckleberry Finn, Love Song of J. Alfred Pruforck, Mark Twain, Othello, Rose for Emily, T. S. Eliot, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy, William Faulkner, William Shakespeare Comments closed
In Praise of the Liberal Arts
NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof recently sang the praises of the liberal arts and talked about the vital importance of literature.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Ernest Hemingway, Homer, Iliad, Jhumpa Lahiri, Khaled Hosseini, Liberal arts education, Old Man and the Sea, Toni Morrison Comments closed
