Switzerland, I read Alexander Pope���s translation of Homer. This meditation was in
1964. In 2005, when I installed my new
library at home, I found another book I
read at that time, The Oxford Book of English Prose. Pope���s preface to his translation of Homer���s Iliad and Kinglake���s ���On
Homer and the Child��� were still marked.
In their respective works Pope extols the
simple grandeur of Homer���s poetry, while
Kinglake believes Homer prepares the
child ���for the coming strife of this temporal world��� and that ���The kingdom of
Homer would endure forever and ever.���
I
resolved to prepare for life and to visit that kingdom.
Shortly thereafter, in the spring of 1964, I booked passage on
the Stella Solaris leaving from Naples and cruising the eastern Mediterranean, including Malta, Greece, Egypt, Lebanon
(thence to Syria and Jordan overland) Israel and Turkey. I was
seventeen years old.
HYLAND
4
