Comparative Essay Sample: Odyssey and The Dying Christian To His Soul

📌Category: Homer, Odyssey, Poems, Writers
📌Words: 515
📌Pages: 2
📌Published: 21 March 2022

Homer’s The Odyssey and Alexander Pope's "The Dying Christian To His Soul" have very different origins, but both embody the beliefs of their respective authors. All aspects of the poems are greatly influenced by these beliefs. The question of what happens after death is foundational to both works, particularly “The Dying Christian to His Soul.” Though The Odyssey and “The Dying Christian to His Soul” are both beautifully written poems with happy endings, they differ greatly in their length, portrayal of the afterlife, and overall atmosphere.

In contrast to The Odyssey, “The Dying Christian to His Soul” shows heaven as a blissful and happy place. The Odyssey, on the other hand, portrays Hades, the place where the dead go, as a very unhappy and negative place where everyone wishes they were alive again. A dead Achilles tells Odysseus “I’d rather slave on earth for another man--some dirt-poor farmer who scrapes to keep alive--than rule down here over all the breathless dead” (Book 11: 556-558). His desperation and loathing for this place is clear, and it only serves to highlight how different death is in The Odyssey compared to death in “The Dying Christian to His Soul.” This is only one difference among many

The Odyssey is incredibly long compared to “The Dying Christian to His Soul,” which is solely about what happens after death and how it affects a dying Christian. The entire poem revolves around this, and while short and brief, it also carries a deep and meaningful message. Moreover, The Odyssey for the most part is about one man’s physical journey; “The Dying Christian to His Soul,” however, is about a man’s spiritual journey into heaven. It also has a much more cheerful and upbeat atmosphere to it. The speaker proclaims triumphantly at the end of the poem, “O Grave! Where is thy victory? O Death! Where is thy sting?” (Lines 17-18) The Odyssey, on the other hand, is oftentimes bloody and retains a grim, melancholy feel to it throughout.

In spite of these differences, The Odyssey and “The Dying Christian to His Soul” still have a few similarities that connect them. For one, they are both poems and written in elevated language. This largely links the two together. They also share a happy ending, even though The Odyssey’s pales in comparison to that of the other. Another thing they have in common is how big of an influence the individual beliefs of the authors have on their poems. These beliefs shaped every part of their works. If Pope was not a Christian, how could he have written a poem about what it is like to die as a Christian? In the same way, Homer’s culture played a large part in his play. 

Though Homer’s The Odyssey and Pope's "The Dying Christian To His Soul" may seem at first glance entirely different from one another, they also have many things they share. They are both beautifully crafted poems in their own right, and while The Odyssey is much longer, “The Dying Christian to His Soul” is still just as moving, if not more so. The biggest difference is found in what they think happens after death and the influence that has on their poems. While the poems are different in content, length, and viewpoints, they remain connected primarily through their shared style of beautiful, eloquent prose.

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