Who Is Calypso?
Calypso is a nymph in Greek mythology who appears in Homer’s Odyssey. She is the daughter of Atlas, the giant who holds up the sky, and she lives on the mythical island of Ogygia. It is there she has taken Odysseus (Ulysses) after having saved him from drowning in the angered waves of the sea god Poseidon after his ship has been struck by Zeus’ thunderbolt. Calypso keeps him there on her lusciously wooded island as her captive lover for seven years. But despite the beautiful woman’s love, he cannot forget his own country, the rocky island of Ithaca, and his clever and faithful wife Penelope. After an intervention by the council of the gods, especially the powerful, bright-eyed Athena, Calypso must finally let Odysseus leave. Suzanne Vega’s song is told from the perspective of the nymph, just before dawn on the day that the man she loves will leave her. She has even helped him to build the craft that will carry him away from her, and remembering the sweet and salty pleasures that will n
