9/23: a new (?) connection

In order to prepare for class today I needed to re-read book 5 of the Odyssey. There's a part near the beginning of the book that I have a very vivid memory of reading for the first time back in 1986: Hermes' trip from Olympus, across the water, to Calypso's island. I've always liked the sheer descriptive beauty of the passage. Today I realized that Hermes' smooth trip over the ocean contrasts so well with Odysseus' problematic sea-voyage later in the same book--it becomes one of a number of contrasts between immortal and mortal that are emphasized in book 5. Maybe I made that connection before, maybe not; I can't remember. It's not a profound point, but it was a pleasure to make (or re-make) today. And if felt good to enjoy the passage both aesthetically and analytically--perhaps in earlier readings of it I just got swept away by the scene and forgot to think about what the scene could be contributing to the poem in other ways.