Sacrifice In The Odyssey

The Odyssey is an iconic epic poem that has established the characteristics of epic poems to come. Written by Homer, the father of Western Literature, epic poem is about Odysseus, a man who is far from home, recalls the past events, and returns after twenty years. When a poet alludes to the Odyssey, both the poem and the Odyssey is enhanced. Edna St. Vincent Millay alludes to the Odyssey in “An Ancient Gesture.” In this poem, a speaker is doing housework all day. Caught up in the never ending cycle of house work, she says, “And your husband has been gone, and you don’t know where, for years, suddenly you burst into tears; There is simply nothing else to do (Lines 7-9).” When the suitors came for Penelope, she tired herself by weaving and undoing it all at night. Penelope suffered in misery in grief while her husband was somewhere in danger or having fun. Similarly, this woman is crying because her husband has been gone, physically or mentally, and all she does is tire herself with house work.

In mythology, sirens enchant sailors and direct them death with their sweet songs. Even Odysseus is tempted to jump overboard if he weren’t tied up. The speaker entices the reader into reading more by offering to tell a secret. The reader is soon praised for being unique and is begged to help the speaker. The speaker finishes off the poem by saying that “ it is a boring song, but it works every time(Lines 26-27).” Hinting that the speaker did not care much about the reader in the first place by casually ending their song and says that the song is not at all