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Land Of The Lotus Eaters In Homer's The Odyssey

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Land of the Lotus Eaters In Book 9 of The Odyssey by Homer there is a section that describes people who eat and live by the Lotus flower, the Lotus Eaters. These are a peaceful people that Odysseus and his men fall upon in their journey. In the book they seem to fall under some sort of power from eating the flower and then Odysseus and his men never want to return home, giving up hope as well. Homer's The Odyssey isn't the only representation of these Lotus Eaters, Tennyson Tennyson wrote a poem called “The Lotus Eaters”, depicting more how Odysseus and his men felt while they were on the Lotus Eater’s Island. The emotional and spiritual traits of the characters in each piece differed but all focused on how the flower gave them a blissful feeling. Odysseus and his men in Book 9 started off …show more content…

The theme for Homer's The Odyssey Book 9 would be to stay in the real world and not to fall for bliss, or emotional wealth. The reason for this is that Odysseus and his men land on the island and get sucked right into it and fall under the Lotus Eaters spell. “But gave them lotus plants to eat, whose fruit, sweet as honey, made any man who tried it lose his desire ever to journey home” (Homer, Lines 121-123). They all fall under this bliss and had to physically be forced off of the island. The theme is different in Tennyson’s poem “The Lotus Eaters”, the theme is to let the bliss control, let death come. That’s how the men all felt, they seemed to be awaiting death. To take an easy way out and not have to worry about anything anymore, “surely, surely, slumber is more sweet than toil,” (Tennyson, Line 171). The Land of the Lotus Eaters leaned more towards a theme of good comes from seclusion. This is shown by how Bearden made sure to show that they are alone on the island with just the Lotus Eaters. He also depicts that the men are having a good time, nothing to show that they would want to

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“Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.” -Erich Fromm ‘The Odyssey’ by Homer, follows the story of Odysseus, a great Greek hero. It tells of his venture to Troy, to lead his army in the Trojan War, and his separation from loved ones and his kingdom for twenty years. However, the novel mainly focuses on the story of his homecoming and all he, and many others, had to endure while he was returning from abroad.

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Notably, the song in the chorus describes how at home his love remains waiting silently for him. Likewise in The Odyssey, Penelope remains loyal to Odysseus through all the pandemonium from the suitors and nearly a 20 year absence from Odysseus. In one such instance with Penelope talking with Eurymachus, she describes the pride she has for herself and her marriage with Odysseus by saying ”'Eurymachus, all my excellence, my beauty and figure, were ruined by the immortals at that time when the Argives took ship for Ilion, and with them went my husband, Odysseus. If he were to come back to me and take care of my life, then my reputation would be more great and splendid(18.251-255).” Furthermore, the lyrics of the song constantly deal with the desire to return home; similarly, this is a common story development for Odysseus in The Odyssey.

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