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O, Thersites,
Most unloved
Of Homer's brood,
Bas relief in comic rude,
Poet's foil in pathetic crude.
Thersites, O
Uncomely Greek,
Wouldst dare compare
Thine homely mien
With yon Achilles' godlike sheen?
O, Thersites,
Hapless fool,
Battle's crimson,
Cheapened fuel,
Power to Menelaus' vengeful duel.
Thersites, O
Unclever lout,
Thy witless rabble
In dread and doubt
Did sly Oddyseus grabble and
rout.
O, Thersites,
Achaean bane,
Best thou slain
On Trojan plain, than heap
disdain
'Pon Agamemnon's haughty reign.
Thersites, O
Villain of the classes,
Cheek of the masses,
Ignoble fetters bind thy hopes,
Noble betters wrench thy ropes.
O, Thersites,
Least of the host,
Awesome heroes bluster and boast,
And wager thy life, heedless the
need,
Thee and thy brethren suffer and
bleed.
Thersites, O
Plaintive lament,
Life denied sain, thy dignity
rent,
Shouting in vain thine anger to
vent,
Silence thy pain, embrace thine
indent.
*Author's note:
Thersites is
the antithesis of the heroes in Homer's epic Greek poem of the Trojan
War, The Iliad.
A common, ugly and impudent Greek soldier, Thersites is one of the
earliest literary examples of the powerlessness of common troops.
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