But look, the ghost of my mother came! My mother, dead and gone now... Anticleia...I broke into tears to see her here

But look, the ghost
of my mother came! My mother, dead and gone now…
Anticleia – daughter of that great heart Autolycus –
whom I had left alive when I sailed for sacred Troy.
I broke into tears to see her here, but filled with pity,
even throbbing with grief, I would not let her ghost
approach the blood till I had questioned Tiresias myself.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 11, lines 93-99. These lines describe Odysseus’ only encounter with his mother, when he sees her ghost in the House of Death. It is a painful moment for him, realizing that he will never see her again, and it reduces him to tears. This is an example of situational irony, because both Odysseus and the reader didn’t know that Anticleia was dead.

Homer Quotes