Sing of the wooden horse.Įpeus built with Athena’s help, the cunning trap that you sing the Achaeans’ fate,Īll they did and suffered, all they soldiered through,Īs if you were there yourself or heard from one who was.īut come now, shift your ground. Surely the Muse has taught you, Zeus’s daughter,Īll too true. I respect you, Demodocus, more than any man alive. “Odysseus, master of many exploits, praised the singer: By jumping forward and backward in time, Homer provides important details at crucial moments without interrupting the narrative flow. The unidentified narrator then requests, “Launch out on his story, Muse, daughter of Zeus, / start from where you will.” Indeed, The Odyssey starts not at the beginning of Odysseus' journey but in the middle of the action: 20 years after his initial departure from Ithaca. The passage begins with an invocation of the muse and a request for the story of "the man of twists and turns." As readers, we learn that we are about to hear the tale of Odysseus-“the man of twists and turns"-who went on a long, difficult journey and attempted (but failed) to bring his comrades home. These opening lines provide a brief synopsis of the plot of the poem. Start from where you will-sing for our time too.” Launch out on his story, Muse, daughter of Zeus, The blind fools, they devoured the cattle of the SunĪnd the Sungod wiped from sight the day of their return. The recklessness of their own ways destroyed them all, Many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea,įighting to save his life and bring his comrades home.īut he could not save them from disaster, hard as he strove. Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds, “Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turnsĭriven time and again off course, once he had plundered