There are over 6 billion people in this world. They are all different and therefore all choose to live their lives in different ways. There are some individuals who always thrive to achieve more. They always want to do more, hear more, see more, whereas some individuals have a few selective goals and once those are achieved become perfectly content with their lives and where they are. There are many other ways people believe they should live their lives and that’s how they live them. The author, Constantine Cavafy develops a certain idea of how individuals should live their life in the poem “Ithaca”.
He believes that individuals should aim to accomplish the maximum amount of goals in their lives so that they will not have any regrets and can learn from the journey they take to accomplish these goals, because that is the most important part. They main points from this is that people should have many goals throughout their lives, they should be determined and not let things get in the way of accomplishing their goals and even more importantly, that they should learn from the journey.
In the poem the author develops the idea that Individuals should have many aims throughout their lives and also enjoy their lives. The poet states that as the traveler sets out on his journey, he must hope that it is a long one, full of adventure and discovery. The destination of this journey is Ithaca, a Greek island, which was the destination of a mythical warrior named Odysseus who was made famous in Homer’s poems. Ithaca is a metaphor to the destination of the journey of life; therefore the author is stating that an individual should hope their life is long and full of adventure and discovery.
Thought individuals lives they should take advantage of as many opportunities as possible to be able to get the ultimate experience. “At many a summer dawn to enter with what gratitude, what joy -“, expresses that an individual should not be ungrateful for the joyous moments in life, whether the joy is just for a short period or long. This extract refers to the joyous moments: “ports seen for the first time; to stop at Phoenician trading centres, and to buy good merchandise, mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony, and sensuous perfumes of every kind, sensuous perfumes as lavishly as you can;”
