Faunjo - Nikki

so I was translating the Iliad and of course I had to end up crying again

why?

well, first of all, there’s something important about the Iliad: it’s very common that a certain verse appears a lot of times in the poem (for example, “and thus, X said” or “and then, black death took over his corpse”) because the Iliad and the Odyssey were oral poems. Those verses made it easier for the poet to remember the rest, a bit like the chorus of a song.

Okay. So. In the book 2 of the Iliad, Achilles is with his mother, and he’s crying because Agamemnon has offended him. And Thetis says:  τί δέ σε φρένας ἵκετο πένθος; ἐξαύδα, μὴ κεῦθε νόῳ, ἵνα εἴδομεν ἄμφω. (Son, what sorrow has taken over your heart? speak, don’t hide it in your heart, so we both know).

Then we move forward to book 16. Homer shows us a four verse long simile describing Patroclus’ tears: he cries warm tears like a dark fountain pours its waters over a cliff.  Achilles gets worried about him (because who would like seeing the love of his life crying like that? not me, not Achilles) and Achilles asks him why is he crying, and says:  ἐξαύδα, μὴ κεῦθε νόῳ, ἵνα εἴδομεν ἄμφω. The exact same verse.

And! then! there’s book 18. Patroclus has died, and Achilles is completely devastated. His mother appears quickly at his side, and, alarmed, says:  τέκνον τί κλαίεις; τί δέ σε φρένας ἵκετο πένθος; ἐξαύδα, μὴ κεῦθε. (Son, why are you crying? what sorrow has taken over your heart? speak, don’t hide it). Yes, this same verse again.

Think about it. The very words Achilles had comforted Patroclus with, Thetis has to repeat them to comfort her son again. At first, he was crying because he was offended; then he cries because, as a consequence of that offence, he’s lost the person whom he loved more than his own life.

Intertextuality in the Iliad is absolutely fascinating and heartbreaking and I’m not okay

flowers that bloom in the night

Dancing in Film:

Little Women (2019) dir. Greta Gerwig

Choreography by Monica Bill Barnes

1. Greek god: Zeus. | 2-3. Neptune by Lambert-Sigisbert Adam (1700-1759).

thinking about how orpheus turning to look back at eurydice isn’t a sign of mortal frailness but a sign of love

Fyodor Dostoevsky's manuscript draft of The Brothers Karamazov. via twitter

by mauro_roberto__

here it is a collection of poems about hope and or holding on despite everything !

I Am Not Ready To Die Yet by Aracelis Girmay

A Litany for Survival by Audre Lorde

Snowdrops by Louise Glück

Most Days I Want to Live by Gabrielle Calvocoressi

Insha’Allah by Danusha Laméris

A Good Day by Kait Rokowski

Invitation by Mary Oliver

Instructions on Not Giving Up by Ada Limón

Tommorow is a Place by Sanna Wani

The World Has Need of You by Ellen Bass

Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower by Rainer Maria Rilke

To the Young Who Want to Die by Gwendolyn Brooks

Night Walk by Franz Wright

Sorrow is Not My Name by Ross Gay

Everything Is Waiting For You by David Whyte

The Letter by Linda Greg

Testify by Eve L. Ewing

Every Day as a Wide Field, Every Page by Naomi Shihab Nye