the iliad is making me feel things
So I resolved earlier this year, well, to be fair, probably last year, that I was going to read through the Iliad, the Odyssey and the Aeneid, all three of them, every single line, in translation. I have read them before, though perhaps it’s better to say I’ve read parts of them before, both translated into English and in their original languages. But I decided that I should read them this time because I think I’ve reached an age where I can actually appreciate these epics for what they are.
And I was right.
I’m reading through the Iliad now; I think I just finished book 13, so halfway through. And maybe it’s just the way my mind is wired at the moment, but during this reading, the Iliad seems to me to be overwhelmingly a book about the absolute horrors of war and its effects on people. It is so tragic and gut wrenching and grotesque and I somehow never noticed this as I was reading it for school.
Perhaps that was in fact the issue. I was not a great critical or focused reader during my school years. A lot of what I did was skimming and I don’t think I put much analytical thought into anything I read.
I was also young when I read the Iliad for the first time, probably a young teenager, maybe even younger. And the tragedy of it all did not resonate with me as it does now.
[I am maybe being a little unfair to my young self. I did write a short story wherein I sent Peace (Tranquility/Comfort) to Andromache, so I did in fact recognize her pain.]
Now I see the tragedy of the prolonged battle scenes, full of little eulogies for the fallen warriors, and just the sense of desperation and grief. They’ve been there for so long, and I feel it now. It’s heavy and it’s horrific.
But it’s also beautiful, utterly beautiful, and I’m fighting the urge to just dive headlong into the Greek and translate it all myself, because Homer’s work is breathtaking, and I need to appreciate every part of it. I’m becoming obsessed with his similes; the hunting/ animal comparisons are driving me insane, and I love the ways they’re used and who they’re used for. It’s fantastic.
~dys