i
- The narrator refers to his journey with Omeros as his "exorcism," and he's been humbled by his frightening encounter with the suffering poets.
- He sees Philoctete taking a New Year's wash in the ocean and feels connected to him through the wound and the cure.
- The narrator marvels at the "illiteracy" of the sea that inspired and played a huge role in the world's greatest epics.
- The sea itself becomes an epic that writes and immediately erases itself, never interpreting the narrative for us, never offering metaphor.
ii
- The narrator asks rhetorically why he should spend time on verses about Achille—after all, history will interpret him as it desires, anyway.
- He provides parallels with the shaping of the sea floor, noting that Achille is "simplified" by history.
- The narrator admits that his education blinds him by making him see the Homeric associations with the island, and thereby reducing its inhabitants to literary roles. Thanks for nothing, education.
- He praises the sun for giving him a different set of eyes—the sight of the true poet.
iii
- Achille is mighty angry because tourists won't stop trying to get photos of him and his "quaint" boat. He finds it downright obnoxious.
- He chases them off, cursing. His anger is deep, again tied to the ancestral pain of captivity, and the loss of private life and identity.
- His compadres laugh at him, though, not understanding his anger.