THE DAY UNFOLDS: SET THREE
Thursday, May 15, 2014 at 11:16AM
By now, on the great day—June 14--it will be 2 p.m. Listeners will have gone out, had lunch in some neighbouring restaurant, come back. I was nervous about this when we told The Odyssey, afraid that audience members would not be able to keep to the schedule, aware of just how tight our timing was. I need not have worried. Everyone was so eager. Once we had got started, no one wanted to miss a word. They were there in their seats, ready to continue on the journey, ready to live within them all that Homer could bring.
So what does come after lunch? As I write I am aware of how reluctant I am to give away the actual story. I note that I do not really wish even to name names. Achilles, Agamemnon, Hector, Priam—all are there, of course—but I am choosing not to deal in the specifics rather to seek to pull forth a more general sense of happenings, emotional impacts, binding threads.
Again, I’ve asked each teller to choose ten word to evoke their piece.
The Struggle Over Patroclus: Nicole Lavigne
Book 17
Summons, armour, glittering, fate,
defend, war-cry, gods, bronze, chariots
death
A body lies on the field of battle. It is the body of a hero, clad in splendid armour, armour which may be stripped and taken as a prize. But the body is prize itself. In the hands of the enemy, it will be defiled.
The Struggle Over Patroclus (cont.): Phil Nagy
Book 17
Fighting, fighting, fighting
havoc caused by Zeus
horses weep, Patroclus, the fie ld
The body must be defended. Defended unto death? The larger cause continues but for the heroes the body has become the focus of all efforts. They struggle shrouded in mist while elsewhere on the battlefield the sun shines clear.
The Struggle Over Patroclus (cont.): Mary Wiggin
Book 17
Din incessant, fire uncontrollable
Hector’s helmet flashing
A goddess intervenes
The body is heavy. Two men are needed to carry while others must protect their path of retreat. News of the death spreads, grief goes with it. And still, as if unending, there is the thunder of chariots, the clash of spear and sword on shield.
IMAGES TO DREAM ON
The pictures come from a museum in the king's stables at Versailles. The first is a Greek soldier, the second is actually of the horses of Apollo but it made me think so much of those immortal horses of Achilles who weep. The third shows Menelaus with the body of Patroclus. So deep the grief.
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