Village books

" So on a voyage we are told that the sailors do whatever is
wanted doing, but we have no details. There is a shipwreck, which
does duty more than once without the alteration of a word. I have
seen such a shipwreck at Drury Lane. Anyone, moreover, who reads
any authentic account of actual adventures will perceive at once
that those of the Odyssey are the creation of one who has had no
history. Ulysses has to make a raft; he makes it about as broad as
they generally make a good big ship, but we do not seem to have been
at the pains to measure a good big ship.
I will add no more however on this head. The leading
characteristics of the Iliad, as we saw, were love, war, and
plunder. The leading idea of the Odyssey is the infatuation of man,
and the key-note is struck in the opening paragraph, where we are
told how the sailors of Ulysses must needs, in spite of every
warning, kill and eat the cattle of the sun-god, and perished
accordingly.
A few lines lower down the same note is struck with even greater
emphasis.


Pages:
89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113