Module 01 Discussion - Reading between the Lines Read the poem, \"Ithaka\" by Gr

Question

Module 01 Discussion - Reading between the Lines

Read the poem, "Ithaka" by Greek poet Constantine Cavafy and share your thoughts with your classmates about what you think the poem is saying (ideas) and how it is being said (form, the way the words look on each line, etc.). Here are some notes to consider as you discuss: Ideas
Perhaps you will find that you need to read the poem several times in order to begin to grasp its meaning. It is easy to become frustrated by reading poetry because it is not always straightforward and easily understood. It is certainly not like what you are used to reading: stories, newspaper articles, an agenda of a meeting, grocery lists, etc. Ask yourself this: if the words in this poem don't literally mean what they mean, then how do I figure out its overall meaning? You might begin by looking for clues, and once you do this, you've begun to think like a literary critic. For example, look at the title; does the word anecdote tell you anything? Explain what it might be. Think about your own past experience and the poems you've read. Form
Does this poem look like one you are used to reading? Isn't poetry supposed to rhyme? Does this poem rhyme? How is the fact that the poem doesn't rhyme important to your understanding of it? Before you answer, think about what you read and know about modernism. Module 01 Discussion - Reading between the Lines

Read the poem, "Ithaka" by Greek poet Constantine Cavafy and share your thoughts with your classmates about what you think the poem is saying (ideas) and how it is being said (form, the way the words look on each line, etc.). Here are some notes to consider as you discuss: Ideas
Perhaps you will find that you need to read the poem several times in order to begin to grasp its meaning. It is easy to become frustrated by reading poetry because it is not always straightforward and easily understood. It is certainly not like what you are used to reading: stories, newspaper articles, an agenda of a meeting, grocery lists, etc. Ask yourself this: if the words in this poem don't literally mean what they mean, then how do I figure out its overall meaning? You might begin by looking for clues, and once you do this, you've begun to think like a literary critic. For example, look at the title; does the word anecdote tell you anything? Explain what it might be. Think about your own past experience and the poems you've read. Form
Does this poem look like one you are used to reading? Isn't poetry supposed to rhyme? Does this poem rhyme? How is the fact that the poem doesn't rhyme important to your understanding of it? Before you answer, think about what you read and know about modernism. Module 01 Discussion - Reading between the Lines

Read the poem, "Ithaka" by Greek poet Constantine Cavafy and share your thoughts with your classmates about what you think the poem is saying (ideas) and how it is being said (form, the way the words look on each line, etc.). Here are some notes to consider as you discuss: Ideas
Perhaps you will find that you need to read the poem several times in order to begin to grasp its meaning. It is easy to become frustrated by reading poetry because it is not always straightforward and easily understood. It is certainly not like what you are used to reading: stories, newspaper articles, an agenda of a meeting, grocery lists, etc. Ask yourself this: if the words in this poem don't literally mean what they mean, then how do I figure out its overall meaning? You might begin by looking for clues, and once you do this, you've begun to think like a literary critic. For example, look at the title; does the word anecdote tell you anything? Explain what it might be. Think about your own past experience and the poems you've read. Form
Does this poem look like one you are used to reading? Isn't poetry supposed to rhyme? Does this poem rhyme? How is the fact that the poem doesn't rhyme important to your understanding of it? Before you answer, think about what you read and know about modernism. Read the poem, "Ithaka" by Greek poet Constantine Cavafy and share your thoughts with your classmates about what you think the poem is saying (ideas) and how it is being said (form, the way the words look on each line, etc.). Here are some notes to consider as you discuss: Ideas
Perhaps you will find that you need to read the poem several times in order to begin to grasp its meaning. It is easy to become frustrated by reading poetry because it is not always straightforward and easily understood. It is certainly not like what you are used to reading: stories, newspaper articles, an agenda of a meeting, grocery lists, etc. Ask yourself this: if the words in this poem don't literally mean what they mean, then how do I figure out its overall meaning? You might begin by looking for clues, and once you do this, you've begun to think like a literary critic. For example, look at the title; does the word anecdote tell you anything? Explain what it might be. Think about your own past experience and the poems you've read. Form
Does this poem look like one you are used to reading? Isn't poetry supposed to rhyme? Does this poem rhyme? How is the fact that the poem doesn't rhyme important to your understanding of it? Before you answer, think about what you read and know about modernism.

Explanation / Answer

Ithaka -The Poem

As you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope the voyage is a long one.
May there be many a summer morning when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbors seen for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind—
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

Explaination of the meaning of the poem

"Ithaka" is based on Homer's account of Odysseus's journey home. The poem has so much to say about life in all its complexity, with both the setbacks and the positive memories that become inevitable.The poem urges one to live for the journey rather than the expected end-point, in order to have a flourishing and fulfilling life.

As "Ithaka" suggests, one should not wish away our time, but "ask that [our] way be long". One may have problems at work, financial worries, or may have lost a loved one, but when one eventually, and inevitably, overcomes these troubles or setbacks (or when s/he reach their own metaphorical Ithaka) they will be much stronger. Moreover, if the same challenges reoccur - which is likely - one will be able to deal with them in a much stronger and more experienced way.

Be aware of how life is for you now, and ensure to be appreciative of all the art, culture, and beauty that you could quite easily have never seen. It's so easy just to spend time looking at a beautiful painting, listening to a timeless piece of music, or reading a classic or in general enjoying the subtleties of life. Quite simply, dwell on what you're learning from your current hardship. Ithaka tells one not to depend on others for their own happiness and well being. all of it lies within.Similarly, spending time away from home like a Voyager helps one to appreciate things back home.
Ithaka encapsulates the real purpose of life -Journey to explore oneself and to learn.We are born to learn and grow.We are not to stop and sorrow.

Learn, move and travel to heal oneself of all the negetivities surrounding them.

Reflecting back at the purpose of the peam ,i can understand that in “Ithaka,” Cavafy makes use of the story from the Odyssey (c. 725 b.c.e.; English translation, 1614), Homer’s epic tale of Odysseus’s ten-year struggle to return home from the Trojan War. This return is a kind of scaffolding for making a value statement about human life. The island kingdom of Ithaka becomes a symbol of completion and value, and the attempt to return should be the purpose of life. Odysseus is driven by a powerful longing for his home, a longing that ends with his arrival there; but for Cavafy, Ithaka is not a place, but a process, the journey itself, and the journey is one’s life. In brief, the purpose of life cannot simply be wrapped up by its ending; it is in living that one finds value.

The voice in the poem is, perhaps, the poet’s, speaking directly to the reader, even though that “reader” could also be Odysseus. The facts of Odysseus’s journey come into the poem only as symbols of what readers can meet on their lives’ journeys. In a sense, the voice urges readers to be moral, but it is not a preaching voice.

In the second section, the voice essentially tells readers to wish for a long life, but a life which is to be enjoyed for the pleasure of being alive, in seeing that which is new and beautiful, appealing to the senses. The readers also are urged to learn, “learn” being twice repeated in the Greek for emphasis on this part of the process.

Of course, one must always have the end, Ithaka, in mind, for it is “your destiny.” One should not hurry, however, and the end is not the end. Ithaka in itself may be “poor,” but getting there is how, in living one’s life, one will give and receive richness and meaning in that life.

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