"I’ll give that man his swamping fill of trouble!"
With that he rammed the clouds together – both hands
clutching his trident – churned the waves into chaos, whipping
all the gales from every quarter, shrouding over in thunderheads
the earth and sea at once – and night swept down from the sky –
East and South Winds clashed and the raging West and North,
sprung from the heavens, roiled heaving breakers up –
and Odysseus’ knees quaked, his spirit too.
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 5, lines 320-327. The fate of Odysseus and his hope of returning home appears to be very much in the hands of the gods. While he escapes Calypso’s island with the support of Athena and Zeus, an angry Poseidon is bent on making his journey as difficult as possible. He whips up a storm which drive him off course. In this passage the winds are personified, as they clash and rage and roil up the sea.