Omeros
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1990
- Form
- Epic poetry
- Language
- English
- Length
- Long · 325 pp300 to 700 pages
- Difficulty
- Difficult4 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendOmerosFarrar, Straus and Giroux, 1992The standard paperback of the poem, unchanged from the first edition.
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A poem of some eight thousand lines in loose terza rima set mainly on Walcott's native island of St Lucia. Two fishermen, Achille and Hector, quarrel over Helen, a proud housemaid; Philoctete suffers from a wound on his shin that will not heal; a retired English officer, Major Plunkett, and his Irish wife Maud research the island's history; and the poet himself walks through the poem. Achille, in a sunstroke vision, travels to Africa and meets his ancestor; Hector dies in his taxi; Philoctete is cured by the healer Ma Kilman. The poem also moves to Boston, London, Dublin and the American plains, and ends with the sea going on.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Omeros are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
