The Memorial By Alice Oswald

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The Memorial by Alice Oswald

Oswald’s translation of the Iliad does not focus on the story, but rather on the extended

similes by Homer and the biographies of those who died during the war. Through various tools

and form, Oswald attempts to present not just names, but unforgotten people who died and lived

unforgettable as Homer copiously attempted to convey. Since the Illiad was orally narrated, but

not written, Oswald attempts to deliver it in a manner that the audience feels that it is listening to

it as opposed to reading it. This discussion presents Oswald’s aim of relating the unforgotten

names and the unforgettable lives and deaths of warriors through similes, hence recreating the

original poem’s enargeia.

Discussion

Oswald aimed at paying homage to the warriors who died during the war. Since this goal

is attained by relating the autobiography of the individual warriors, she mentions the actual

names of the warriors and capitalizes them to place emphasis and to allow the audience to focus

and relate the experiences that follow with an actual person. For example, she indicates, “Made

AGASTRAPHUS get out of his chariot…Of course, he was wounded, he lay dying” (Oswald 38-

39). She further states, “ADRESTUS almost survived it was horrible” (Oswald 38-39). When

one sees that emphasis placed on the names, the audience cannot help but relate the experiences

to the names of the people standing out in the context.

As in the case of an actual memorial, Oswald’s Iliad was meant to bring forth the sensory

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experience of war. The poet aimed at making the audience feel that it was part of the war to make

the experiences more personal. The poet is quick to indicate “Like a fish in the wind” (Oswald

38-39) to indicate how the soldiers behaved and acted to save their lives. When a fish is caught in

the wind, it will do its best to go to an area that is least influenced by the wind. Similarly, Oswald

presents this simile to show how Agastraphus must have felt during his regret: “what was I doing

thinking I could walk through all that iron on my own” (38-39). The simile is clear to show that

Agastraphus had shifted from a bad situation to a worse one in the process of saving his life.

There are other scenarios where the war’s sensory experience and fear have been

captured through similes. When describing how Adrestus and Amphius met their death and their

fate was sealed as their father had begged them not to go to war, the poet indicates:

Like a goatherd stands on a rock

And sees a clod blowing towards him

A black block of rain coming closer over the sea” (Oswald 37)

Some soldiers such as these two brothers and Agelos had their fate sealed from the

beginning. It was known by themselves or others that they would die at war. The poet presents

this fear by conveying analogies. For instance, she indicates that Agelaos “Noticed the death

cloud Diomedes towering towards him” (27-28). This fear and experience are emphasized by

comparing them to a man who puts “a wand of olive in the earth” and takes care of it of which it

turned out to be a wave and became “a whip a spine a crown” (27-28). To show how lonely, they

were when these warriors died, the poet closes the stanza with the simile by stating that they

were a woodpile in a lonely field.

The similes and repetition used concurrently have been used to convey the poem’s

enargeia. The stanzas that have the simile statements or phrases have been repeated

consecutively. Each simile stanza has been repeated in the subsequent stanza. As an outcome, the

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audience can feel the weight of the poem, while relating with the diverse experiences of the

warriors and showing empathy to them and the other people that may have been affected by the

war. The repetition can convey desperation in the eyes and hearts of the warriors, while in some

scenarios it shows regret or the agonizing pain that the victims may have been experiencing at

some point.

It is also evident that the narrative aspect of ancient stories has been stripped of Oswald’s

Illiad. As an outcome, the audience is left with an obituary, which is characterised by a strange

luminous quality, hence the vocative aspect of the poem. When going through the poem, one gets

the feeling as one reading through the lives of people who have just died and are about to be

buried. In another sense, one can feel that they are in a funeral where there is a person reading

through the eulogy of the soldiers about to be buried.

Through the contemporary freshness of language, the poet can dissect the various

experiences of the warriors so that she is able to keep with the speed which the events take place

and without compromising on the actual experiences, thoughts and occurrences of the individual

warriors. She shows how Pandarus regretted leaving behind his wealth, wife and other comforts

to participate in the war. She also shows the desires of some soldiers such as Pandarus who

swore that he would “smash this bow and throw it with my own hands into the fire” if he failed

to “get home” and “see my wife and my high-roofed house” (Oswald 18-19). Regardless of these

desires, the poet is also quick to show how Pandarus died a horrifying death where a Diomedes

spear passed through between his eyes, splintering his teeth, cutting his tongue, breaking his jaw

and coming out through the chin.

When one is going through the Illiad as portrayed by Oswald, one cannot help but ask

various questions. The audience tends to ask why Oswald found the need to narrate or retell the

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Illiad, yet it was already evident in Homer’s Illiad. From the beginning to the end of this poem,

on identifies the warriors by name, and progressively encounters their experiences at the

individual level as each soldier dies after another, as anticipated. Nevertheless, one cannot help

but wonder why Oswald found the need to take the audience through such an agonizing and

painful experience even though none of the people in the audience knew the soldiers.

Another aspect conveyed by the poet is the environment in which these soldiers were in

when they were warring or dying. The poem then exceeds the role of an obituary or eulogy. The

environments are mostly described by the similes evident in specific poem stanzas. The poet

talks about a “fish in the wind” (38-39), “good axe in good hands” (25-26), gathered stands on a

rock” (37) and “a wand olive in the earth” (27-28), amongst others. This narration of the

environments makes the experiences more real to the audience which was not at the actual

events.

This question can be answered through several ways. First, like any other memorial,

Oswald’s memorial is a remembrance of a war and more importantly, the people who took part

in that war. Memorials take place repeatedly as long as the people find it important to remember

the subjects. When this aspect is considered, Oswald’s work can be done as many times as

possible as it will be fulfilling its purpose.

Oswald also tends to use this translation as a window that allows the audience to see the

intentions or purpose of Homer when he first wrote the Illiad. This is a different use of

translation where the words (Greek) are translated into another language (English). Oswald’s

purpose is not simply to convey her agenda but to communicate the enargeia of the poem as was

initially intended by the original poet.

Conclusion

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This argument shows how a poem can use the form to convey a message, relate to the

audience and retain the spirit of the poet who originally wrote the poem. In this case, Oswald

uses similes to convey the message of the poet as well as retain its enargeia. Additionally, the

reader can relate to the actual experiences that were encountered by the warriors during the war

and feel the pain of the people who were affected by the war, hence remembering them.

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Works Cited

Oswald, Alice, and Homer. Memorial: An Excavation of the Iliad. London: Faber and Faber,

2011. Print.

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