Omeros Timeline and Summary

•  Back
• More 

• The narrator invokes Omeros at the opening of the poem, asking him to begin his work with "a conch's moan."
• Antigone teaches the narrator Homer's true name and he parses it out in his own native tongue.
• The narrator sees Odysseus's ship in Antigone's hair and hears Omeros's name from the vase as he decides to write an epic about fishermen.
• The narrator sees Omeros in London as a down-and-out bargeman clutching a manuscript.
• Omeros tries to rest on the steps of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, but is shooed away by an angry churchwarden.
• He wanders to the Embankment and sees the icky underbits of the statues there. He sees the names of the boats reflected in the Thames.
• Omeros sees the statue of Queen Boadicea before all the landmarks of empire are engulfed in fog.
• Catherine Weldon sees the blind poet Omeros—echoing the grieving African Seven Seas—in the empty Indian encampment after the Wounded Knee Massacre.
• Omeros speaks of the power of the Ghost Dance, but it is not what anyone expected: The devastation it brings puts the Native American weariness of fighting white people to rest.
• The narrator sees a floating head in the ocean and says the waves name it Omeros; he identifies him as Seven Seas.
• The identity-shifting continues as the narrator sees Omeros in one instant and Seven Seas the next.
• The narrator meets Omeros on the beach and tells him that he saw him in London.
• Omeros responds bluntly to the narrator's admission that he's never read his work all the way through.
• He tells the narrator to "forget about the gods" and pay attention to the other stuff in his work.
• Omeros tells him that it's time to go on a little trip.
• He has more small talk with the narrator: about how he learned his name in Greek, the narrator's ex-love, and why women are better than libraries.
• Omeros is disappointed that wars are no longer fought over beautiful women.
• He tells the narrator that, "love of your own people is greater."
• Omeros embarks with the narrator on a black canoe navigated by a ferryman; he begins flip-flopping with Seven Seas.
• As they head for the Underworld, Omeros invites the narrator to sing praises to the island, Greek-style. He's shy at first, but the narrator follows his lead as they row.
• Omeros/Seven Seas acts as guide through the Underworld, showing the narrator the path and catching him before he slides into the pit designated for false poets.
• A poet's soul grabs at Omeros and begs to be given a second chance, but Omeros rebuffs him, saying he never used his "other eyes" to truly see.