There’s a bit of wisdom in almost everything we humans have written or said because of our ability to infer. To every conversation or written piece we carry our personal philosophies and knowledge. And even when that knowledge is limited by immaturity that breeds its own form of ignorance, we carry that ability to infer. Let me explain.
I heard that the poet T. S Eliot, famous for his “The Waste Land,” “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” and the poetry of Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats that is the basis of the musical Cats, once gave a reading of one of his poems to an audience of university students. When he finished reading his poem, a coed (I know this might be apocryphal) asked, “Mr. Eliot, could you explain that?” Eliot replied that he would be happy to and then reread the poem. His point was that any retelling of the work in other words, even a retelling by the author himself, is not an adequate substitution. The work says what the work says. Saying it otherwise is to say something else. That is especially true of poetry, with a retelling possibly missing much of the original meaning.
I infer that Eliot also made this point: Even an author doesn’t know all that lies in his work. The argument is that whatever the author penned, the musician composed, or the artist painted provides what I hope all my little essays provide: A point of departure for the audience that combines personal experience with whatever the creative mind exhibited. You and I might both hear Beethoven’s Seventh’s Second Movement and derive different feelings and thoughts predicated on what we “take” to the concert.
And in the forgoing context I’ll mention Homer’s Iliad and suggest that Putin, who is currently sending thousands of Russians into a hazardous battle, might learn something from Book 19 and the verses in which Achilles and Agamemnon reconcile. Did Homer foresee the wars of the centuries ensuing his writing the Iliad and the Odyssey? Did he foresee the likes of Stalin, Hitler, and Putin? Authors don’t necessarily know all that lies in their works. Sometimes readers see what they don’t see.
The Wrath Driven by Pride
Achilles had withdrawn from fighting the Trojans over Agamemnon’s taking Breseis, a “war trophy” captured by Achilles. The greatest Achaean warrior stays out of the battle in seething wrath until Patroclus, wearing Achilles’ armor, is killed by Hector, initiating the reconciliation and Achilles return to fight the Trojans. But his return isn’t my focus here. Rather, it’s the reconciliation. Read the lines (62 ff.) with me:
The swift runner Achilles rose among them, asking,
“Agamemnon, was it better for both of us, after all,
“For you and me to rage at each other, raked by anguish
“Consumed by heartsick strife, all for a young girl?”
Here’s a paraphrase (apologies to the late Mr. Eliot) of what comes next. Achilles admits he was consumed by anger because of his pride and that his withdrawal led to the deaths of many Achaeans who fought without his leadership and his following of Myrmidon soldiers. His absence from the fight benefitted only Hector and the Trojans, not the Argives (i.e., Greeks, Achaeans). Achilles says,
“Enough. Let bygones be bygones. Done is done.
“Despite my anguish I will beat it down,
“The fury mounting inside me, down by force.
“Now, by god, I call a halt to my anger--
“It is wrong to keep on raging, heart inflamed forever.”
More paraphrase: Achilles says they should return to the battle, and Agamemnon says he was blinded by the gods in taking Breseis and that he would like to offer gifts of reconciliation. Achilles says, “Okay, if you want to I’ve me gifts, but I don’t need them. Let’s go and rejoin the battle with the common goal of defeating the Trojans.”
Yes, they return to war, but I prefer to focus on the reconciliation and the letting go of wrath behind the deaths of so many who died needlessly.
What I Take from Book 19 I Apply to Putin and His War in Ukraine
After three years of fighting a war Putin thought would end in a couple of weeks, more than 1,000,000 Russians have been killed, wounded, or captured, and an estimated other million young men have fled their homeland to avoid conscription. Russian’s military has lost equipment and revealed itself to be both corrupt and incompetent. Putin has even relied on North Korea and China to save his cause with casualties mounting in foreign fighters as the Ukrainians continue to outwit and thwart many attackers and attacks. Desperate, Putin has launched rockets against Ukrainian citizens, a move with no military consequence. Ukraine has launched attacks against Russian refineries and weapons caches. Three years of death and destruction—for what?
Unlike Achilles, Putin cannot relinquish his pride and wrath. His military continues to suffer, his Russian youth continue to die needlessly, his economy is equally decimated. But he holds onto his wrath without showing anything more than mock reconciliation. I doubt even the death of one of his loved ones—as Achilles lost Patroclus—would soften his stance on the war.
Nevertheless, I recommend that Vlad read the Iliad and the Oresteia by Aeschylus which dramatizes Agamemnon's fate. He’ll discover that the greatest warrior Achilles dies and that the King of Kings Agamemnon returns home to be killed by his wife Clytemnestra for sacrificing their daughter Iphigenia to appease the gods and pursue the war just as Putin has sacrificed Russia's sons and daughters.
Will Putin’s “family” turn on him? He’s already sacrificed many Russians, including those who once supported him. How many of them have mysteriously “fallen” to their deaths from tall buildings?
All those Russian dead piled high around the border of Ukraine like all those dead Achaeans piled high beneath the walls of Troy. And in the end, what’s left but death and destruction?
Read the Iliad, Vlad; read the Iliad.
I heard that the poet T. S Eliot, famous for his “The Waste Land,” “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” and the poetry of Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats that is the basis of the musical Cats, once gave a reading of one of his poems to an audience of university students. When he finished reading his poem, a coed (I know this might be apocryphal) asked, “Mr. Eliot, could you explain that?” Eliot replied that he would be happy to and then reread the poem. His point was that any retelling of the work in other words, even a retelling by the author himself, is not an adequate substitution. The work says what the work says. Saying it otherwise is to say something else. That is especially true of poetry, with a retelling possibly missing much of the original meaning.
I infer that Eliot also made this point: Even an author doesn’t know all that lies in his work. The argument is that whatever the author penned, the musician composed, or the artist painted provides what I hope all my little essays provide: A point of departure for the audience that combines personal experience with whatever the creative mind exhibited. You and I might both hear Beethoven’s Seventh’s Second Movement and derive different feelings and thoughts predicated on what we “take” to the concert.
And in the forgoing context I’ll mention Homer’s Iliad and suggest that Putin, who is currently sending thousands of Russians into a hazardous battle, might learn something from Book 19 and the verses in which Achilles and Agamemnon reconcile. Did Homer foresee the wars of the centuries ensuing his writing the Iliad and the Odyssey? Did he foresee the likes of Stalin, Hitler, and Putin? Authors don’t necessarily know all that lies in their works. Sometimes readers see what they don’t see.
The Wrath Driven by Pride
Achilles had withdrawn from fighting the Trojans over Agamemnon’s taking Breseis, a “war trophy” captured by Achilles. The greatest Achaean warrior stays out of the battle in seething wrath until Patroclus, wearing Achilles’ armor, is killed by Hector, initiating the reconciliation and Achilles return to fight the Trojans. But his return isn’t my focus here. Rather, it’s the reconciliation. Read the lines (62 ff.) with me:
The swift runner Achilles rose among them, asking,
“Agamemnon, was it better for both of us, after all,
“For you and me to rage at each other, raked by anguish
“Consumed by heartsick strife, all for a young girl?”
Here’s a paraphrase (apologies to the late Mr. Eliot) of what comes next. Achilles admits he was consumed by anger because of his pride and that his withdrawal led to the deaths of many Achaeans who fought without his leadership and his following of Myrmidon soldiers. His absence from the fight benefitted only Hector and the Trojans, not the Argives (i.e., Greeks, Achaeans). Achilles says,
“Enough. Let bygones be bygones. Done is done.
“Despite my anguish I will beat it down,
“The fury mounting inside me, down by force.
“Now, by god, I call a halt to my anger--
“It is wrong to keep on raging, heart inflamed forever.”
More paraphrase: Achilles says they should return to the battle, and Agamemnon says he was blinded by the gods in taking Breseis and that he would like to offer gifts of reconciliation. Achilles says, “Okay, if you want to I’ve me gifts, but I don’t need them. Let’s go and rejoin the battle with the common goal of defeating the Trojans.”
Yes, they return to war, but I prefer to focus on the reconciliation and the letting go of wrath behind the deaths of so many who died needlessly.
What I Take from Book 19 I Apply to Putin and His War in Ukraine
After three years of fighting a war Putin thought would end in a couple of weeks, more than 1,000,000 Russians have been killed, wounded, or captured, and an estimated other million young men have fled their homeland to avoid conscription. Russian’s military has lost equipment and revealed itself to be both corrupt and incompetent. Putin has even relied on North Korea and China to save his cause with casualties mounting in foreign fighters as the Ukrainians continue to outwit and thwart many attackers and attacks. Desperate, Putin has launched rockets against Ukrainian citizens, a move with no military consequence. Ukraine has launched attacks against Russian refineries and weapons caches. Three years of death and destruction—for what?
Unlike Achilles, Putin cannot relinquish his pride and wrath. His military continues to suffer, his Russian youth continue to die needlessly, his economy is equally decimated. But he holds onto his wrath without showing anything more than mock reconciliation. I doubt even the death of one of his loved ones—as Achilles lost Patroclus—would soften his stance on the war.
Nevertheless, I recommend that Vlad read the Iliad and the Oresteia by Aeschylus which dramatizes Agamemnon's fate. He’ll discover that the greatest warrior Achilles dies and that the King of Kings Agamemnon returns home to be killed by his wife Clytemnestra for sacrificing their daughter Iphigenia to appease the gods and pursue the war just as Putin has sacrificed Russia's sons and daughters.
Will Putin’s “family” turn on him? He’s already sacrificed many Russians, including those who once supported him. How many of them have mysteriously “fallen” to their deaths from tall buildings?
All those Russian dead piled high around the border of Ukraine like all those dead Achaeans piled high beneath the walls of Troy. And in the end, what’s left but death and destruction?
Read the Iliad, Vlad; read the Iliad.
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