Ithaca

In the poem "Ithaca" by Constantine Cavafy, there a dramatic switch in tone in the last stanza. In the majority of the poem, the speaker is advising Odysseus, in an indirect way, to enjoy his journey for it will bring his wisdom and the troubles aren't really there, yet in the last stanza it disappoints the reader in telling them that the whole journey was just to a reality check for Odysseus. This is shown with "... Ithaca has not deceived you. / Wise as you have become, with so much experience..." He would like to blame Ithaca for changing and lowering its standards, yet really only Odysseus has been brought to the outside world and his eyes have been opened to the truth. He visits more extravagant and cultured islands than his own home of Ithaca and is quite upset to find out that he was pleased with what he had yet it was so little compared to what others were living with.

The tone of the poem expresses what Odysseus must have felt returning home after his long journey. His internal conflicts caused the voyage yet that good be seen as a positive and negative consequence. He suffered greatly yet every bit of torture for him, his men, family, and people, was brought after some indulgence. He also learned he that he had stopped at a certain point in his life because he thought he had all that he needed, but that made him feel empty being without goals of achieving more in life.