(_a_) The hut of the swineherd (preparation).
(_b_) The palace of the King (execution).
That is, Ulysses and Telemachus have the double problem, which
organizes the Odyssey: they must conquer their own internal negation,
then proceed to conquer that of the Suitors. Both poems divide alike;
both have the same fundamental thought: the individual as hero is to
master his own negative spirit and that of the world, and then be
reconciled with himself and the world. The Iliad has essentially but
one thread of movement, that of Achilles; the Odyssey has two such
threads, if not three--father, son, and perchance wife, making the
total Family as the unit of movement.
Thus the Iliad and Odyssey are one poem fundamentally, showing unity in
thought and structure, and portraying one complete cycle of national
consciousness, as well as one great phase of the World's History.
* * * * *