Odyssey 7.271 · Book 7, lines 271–274
Poseidon's storm
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πολλῇ, τήν μοι ἐπῶρσε Ποσειδάων ἐνοσίχθων, ὅς μοι ἐφορμήσας ἀνέμους κατέδησε κέλευθον, ὤρινεν δὲ θάλασσαν ἀθέσφατον, οὐδέ τι κῦμα εἴα ἐπὶ σχεδίης ἁδινὰ στενάχοντα φέρεσθαι.
A great storm, which Poseidon the earth-shaker roused against me — who, stirring up the winds against me, blocked my path, and stirred up the immense sea; and no wave let me, groaning loudly, be carried upon the raft.
Word by word
The setting
Odysseus, welcomed but still unnamed in the palace of Alcinous, is telling the Phaeacians how he came to their shore. He has reached the wreck of his raft: here he names the god behind it.
A note on this passage
Odysseus lays the blame where it belongs: Poseidon the earth-shaker raised the storm, penned the winds, and blocked his sea-road, churning the water until no wave would let the raft carry him. It is a plain account of a shipwreck, told as the work of an angry god.
The delicacy is the audience. Odysseus is speaking in the hall of the Phaeacians, who are Poseidon's own kin and favoured by him. To name the sea-god's wrath at their table is to test how far their hospitality reaches — and he does it without yet saying why the god hates him, or who he is.
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