"The Lotos-Eaters" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson leaves me with a mildly confused, yet earnest mind. Odysseus is urging his men to continue on with courage stating "This mounting wave will roll us shoreward soon" (line 2). Odysseus and his men are traveling home, and yet are discouraged by the long period of time they have been traveling and the distance they have yet to cover. However, they soon come upon a land "in which it seemed always afternoon" (line 4). This land appears beautiful to the men with its languid air, slender stream, and the flush of sunset. Tennyson uses lines 3 through 24 to describe the land upon which the men have stumbled. I think Tennyson uses so many lines to convey the island's beauty so as to draw the reader in, much like the men are soon to be drawn into the island. Soon the Lotos-eaters come bearer fruit. The men that eat the fruit seem to retreat unto themselves. "To each, but whoso did receive of them and taste, to him the gushing of the wave far far away did seem to mourn and rave on alien shores; and if his fellow spake, his voice was thin, as voices from the grave; And deep-asleep he seemed, yet all awake, and music in his ears his beating heart did make" (lines 30-36). In these lines, we experience the effects of the fruit on those that partook of it. The sounds of the waves, typically very loud, seem distant. The voice of the men seem to go unheard. The only sound that is clearly heard is the sound of the partaker's own heart, which becomes music to his ears. It appears to the reader as though the fruit has the effect of eliminating reality. Line 24 of the poem states that this is "a land where all things always seemed the same!" I believe that this is an effect of the lotos fruit, which seems to bring a peace over its partakers. In fact, the word "seems" appears numerous times in the text, suggesting that this island of eternal afternoon is subjective to the individual man's view of the island.
In "The Lotos-Eaters", the fruit seems to bring peace over the men. Does this inversely relate to the story of Adam and Eve? Does Ulysses actually return home?
I really liked the quotes you used to support what you were saying, and as far as your question goes, I had the same one. It seemed unclear if Ulysses actually returned to his homeland by the abrupt way the book ended and that made me curious and annoyed, did you feel similar emotions? However as I look back and see the final line of the poem, " Our island home is far beyond the wave; we will no longer roam' (44-45). I feel that Ulysses must not of returned home due to him stating, "our island home, we will never roam". To me this meant they were not going to return to their home island and life will be relaxing from now on. As far as your first question, I feel it relates a ton to Adam and Eve and saw it referenced a few times which linked the two, based on the "sacred fruit" used in both I found them very similar and life alternating to both main characters
ReplyDeleteI was definitely curious as to what happened to Ulysses. I became confused after reading the gloss (number 1 on page 624) that says that Ulysses made his speech after he returned home. My timeline got jumbled up from there. What you said makes a lot more sense though, thank you!
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