You Are Odysseus Analysis

No relationship is perfect. All relationships have their issues, but most can be worked out. Many relationships are put under strain by duty and lack of attention. Penelope and Odysseus are one example of this. In the painting Penelope and Odysseus, Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein uses the conversation between Odysseus and Penelope to show that duty often tears families apart, while in the poem “You Are Odysseus,” Linda Pastan uses the same scene to show that partners need attention and love to feel appreciated. Poems and paintings can help teach us lessons about the human experience. “You Are Odysseus” can teach us that partners need attention and love to feel appreciated by elaborating on Penelope’s point of view. Penelope and Odysseus

Linda was born on May 27, 1932 in Bronx, New York. She enjoyed writing, but stopped after marrying Ira Pastan on June 14, 1953. She wanted to focus on her schooling and marriage. Pastan received many degrees, including a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Radcliffe, a Master of Library Science degree from Simmons College, and a Master of Arts degree in English from Brandeis. With Ira, Linda raised three children: Stephen, Peter, and Rachel. After an extended intermission, in 1971, Linda Pastan began writing again (Decker npag). In the same year, she published her first book, A Perfect Circle of Sun (“Linda Pastan” npag). Later on, after publishing many other books, Linda Pastan published the poem “You Are Odysseus” within a collection called Carnival Evening: New and Selected Poem: 1968-1998 in 1998 (Pastan npag). Linda Pastan has written seventeen collections of poetry. She is best known for writing poems about major themes, such as “relationships, family, parenting, identity, loss, and death” (Decker npag). Pastan has won many awards. For example, she won the Dylan Thomas award in 1955, the Swallow Press New Poetry Series award in 1972, and the National Endowment for the Arts grant in 1972 (Paul 921). Linda Pastan is still alive and continues to write today (Decker

Tischbein was born on February 15, 1751 in Haina, Germany. Johann came from a family of artists. For example, Johann Heinrich Tischbein the Elder, Johann Valentin Tischbein, and Anton Wilhelm Tischbein were some of his ancestors (“Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein” npag). His uncles taught him to paint in Hamburg. In 1771, after moving to Holland, Johann started to work as a portrait painter (Murray 525). Tischbein started his career by painting portaits at the Prussian court in Berlin (“Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein” npag). After 1777, Tischbein became very successful working there. Eventually, he became bored with painting portraits and “went to Munich, where he studied Dürer and the early German painters” (Murray 525). Following Johann’s move to Italy in 1779, he was named director of the art academy in Naples in 1789 (“Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein” npag). Tischbein started painting history pictures while in Rome for the second time (Murray 525). Although the paintings leading up to 1787 may have been great, Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein is best known for painting “Goethe in the Roman Campagna.” He painted it while traveling from Rome to Naples with his friend, Goethe, in 1787 (“Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein” npag). Johann had met Goethe the year earlier in 1786 (Murray 525). After a successful career, in 1799, Tischbein was forced to retire in Germany because of the war. Johann