Examples Of Obstacles In The Odyssey

The famous poet Rainer Maria Rilke once claimed, “The only journey is the one within” (A Quote by Rainer Maria Rilke). In The Odyssey by Homer and the poem “They Journey” by Mary Oliver, both protagonists find themselves to be on tough journeys that have a lot of obstacles; but at the end they overcome and find who they really are within. In The Odyssey by Homer, the king of Ithaca sets out on a journey to return home from Troy. In Troy, Odysseus fought and won a difficult battle, and then began the journey home.Throughout the journey home he faced many obstacles set up by the gods which resulted in arriving to his final destination twenty years later. Odysseus faces different types of obstacles, from monsters to his own internal challenges. In the poem “The …show more content…
For an example, the author used personification to say, “Though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug on your ankles” (Oliver 5-9 ). This is personification because a house can not tug on your ankles. The author is describing the main character's mindset to be shaky and unsteady. The reader can understand that the main character feels like a weight is pulling on her. Mary Oliver also uses metaphors, such as, “The stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds.” This quote shows an “A-Ha” moment for the main character. In literature the use of light can be used to convey hope. In this case the hope is shining through the darkness, the “sheet of clouds”(Oliver 25-26). Lastly, the author uses a hyperbole to finish the poem off. She states, “The only thing you could do-determined to save the only life you could save.” (Oliver 34-36). The narrator is exaggerating, she isn't dying, she simply is now learning that she can only save herself not everyone else. The main character started out having a very tough obstacle, but ended by her “saving herself” and finding what she was really looking

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