Insomnia. Homer. Taut Sails (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Osip Mandelstam
- First Published: 1916
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Mythology or myths, Authors or writers, Poetry or poets, Legends, Ships, Sea or seafaring life, Birds, Greek or Roman times, Greece or Greek people, Sleep, Insomnia
The Poem
“Insomnia. Homer. Taut Sails” is a short poem of only three stanzas, told in the first person. It is untitled, like many of Osip Mandelstam’s poems, although the very first word, “Insomnia,” fits the mood of the entire poem. It is one of his early poems and one of many poems in which he used classical motifs. The lines are six-foot iambic, rhymed regularly abba.
The poem opens with three noun sentences, setting the stage in a most concise manner. The persona is suffering from insomnia and is reading the list of the ships of Homer’s...
[The entire page is 1374 words long]
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