Homeric Hymes

Yet another blog post. I admit my first blog was rather lacking but I hope that this next one has a little more sustenance to it. For this blog post I am going to chat about the Homeric Hymns To Demeter and to Hermes. Both of these hymns did reflect many of our modern day tales. As Doc Sex explained how these tales related to our own reality I begin reflecting on my life and how these hymns and metaphors have played a role in shaping my own reality. I will explain more about my life as I write my views on these classic pieces of literature.
To Demeter: this hymn I found had less humor in it than the hymn to Hermes. It was a lot more serious and had tremendous amounts of pain and suffering. First of all I thought it was very apparent that Zeus in the Homeric Hymns is on a constant power trip. Demeter was more powerful than Zeus but was made to have less force because of Zeus’s struggle for superiority. Zeus was even so content that he was supreme that he gave away Demeter’s daughter. This betrayal I feel is a metaphor for the incompetence of men. Zeus not understanding the bond of mother and daughter felt it was just a favor to his brother. Another thing I found quite interesting about this hymn was how Demeter felt so compelled to take care of another child after her own Persephone disappeared. This to me sort of reminded me of when you here a story of a mother losing her child and clinging on to someone else’s child it apparently happens al the time. I do not personally no anything about being a women but this part of the story makes me feel that there is some sort primal instinct that women follow when it comes to children. This to me is something men can never understand and never will understand. The only thing men can really understand about things of this matter is the actual wrath of a woman. When women are truly upset, as I have found it really can be compared to the apocalypse. In the hymn to Demeter she literally tries to start the end of the world and I feel this is one of the main metaphors to this story. The reuniting of mother and daughter in this story is also something that really stuck out to me as well. When they are finally reunited at the end of story the world seems to change for the better. It is a bond only mother and daughter can have. The metaphor for Demeter and Persephone being reunited is a quite visual one because of the correlation of springtime and Persephone being aloud to leave Hades. Demeter to me is one of the biggest insights to the mind of a woman every metaphor I received from this has been true. I can see now how these classics translate into are modern day lives.

To Hermes: This tale is much more masculine and is geared more for understanding the lives of men. Even the story of how Hermes came into this world is a fine display of men being men. This story as do most of these Greek tales comes back to Zeus. Hermes father is Zeus as are many of the gods and goddesses. Zeus is what in modern times is what we call a player or a pimp. He has no problem committing adultery and doing whatever the hell he wants. This is a great metaphor for certain types of men. They really don’t care who they sleep with. Anyway back to Hermes; Hermes was a character that represented the swindler side of masculinity. He was very cocky and deceiving and did as he wished at all times. At the beginning of the story he kills a tortoise to make a lyre. The lyre he posses is sort of like a trophy of his man hood. It is representation of him becoming who he was. This to me is something every man try’s to accomplish they look for trophies to show there accomplishments. Hermes setting the cattle free is a metaphor for him being the king of swindlers and his adolescent misbehaving ways. I know when I was a young boy I caused all sorts of mischief. This mischief usually leads to a great deal of trouble with in a family. We see this when Hermes has conflict with his mother. Mother son conflict usually results disappointment and grief as we see demonstrated in this text. One of the most comical parts of the story of Hermes is when we see the image of this little baby jumping around with a walking stick herding the cattle. Doc Sex talks about how these stories are western literature’s original comedies and I can understand why after reading this. Anyway back to analyzing the story more. After Hermes stole the cattle Apollo is quick to find out that his younger brother stole the cattle. When the two first meat there is a tremendous amount of sibling rivalry. Hermes is a complete wise ass to his older brother. Since they are brothers it makes it even more of a vicious rivalry. I actually think this is another metaphor I read somewhere that men always try to compete with the other men in family and this to me is a perfect example of this behavior happening. Of course this brotherly conflict is resolved by their father Zeus. This conflict getting resolved by Zeus represents the father son bond. When you have an older more powerful man telling you what to do you listen. Eventually at the end of the story they resolve their differences and learn to respect one another. Apollo is especially moved by Hermes talent at the lyre. The soft note that Hermes plays moves Apollo to respect Hermes for who is.