[Buttons12]

Cherished memories of homeschool — the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Supposedly by the same poet, they are entirely different. Iliad: men at war, victory, glory, defeat, honor.
Then in the Odyssey, a man done with war, his heart’s desire to return to his wife and home.

There is a song by Rod Stewart, “Rhythm of My Heart,” that conveys the longing of Odysseus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVeZsG-9wVE

And since my teacher was wise, the studies included a little “sequel.” Tennyson’s Ulysses. It seems no man is ever quite content, even with his heart’s desire. His tribe “know not me.” His fellow mariners know. The call to heroism endures in his twilight years.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45392/ulysses

Man is a paradox.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

As I read the Iliad, I notice a comparison in honor and glory comparable with the American Indian on the High plains. It is as if they both had the same ideals.