Numberlessness In Antigone

Numberless Wonders Destroyed In Sophocles’ play, Antigone, the Greek Chorus, a group of wise elders of the community, serves the important role of raising moral questions and providing the ethical leanings of the community. The first ode glorifies man. The Chorus notes man’s abilities to rise above all obstacles by using tools and inventions and by forming thoughts “as quick as air”, but there is one area—death—he cannot conquer. Sophocles uses sensory imagery, precise diction, and forceful syntax to impress upon the audience the cautionary tone of the Chorus.
Sophocles emphasizes man’s infinite accomplishments in a world of “numberless” wonders by rearranging the clause’s syntax. He can carve into the “inexhaustible” ground, and even the mighty “storm-gray sea” raises him up on its “huge crests.” Man’s labor is “the timeless labor of stallions.” He is strong, able and powerful, and the planet “yields” to his talents. From the highest points in the sky to the blue depths of the ocean, the “lightboned birds” and “lithe fish” are “tamed in the net of his mind.” The strong beasts of the ground “resign” to him: the “lion on the hill,” the “wild horse windy-maned,” and the …show more content…
“mountain bull,” his “sultry shoulder’s” “broken” by man’s “yoke.” The weather, too, he has conquered, building shelter that blocks the “arrows of snow” and “spears of winter rain.” From “every wind” but the “late wind of death” he is “sheltered.” Sophocles compares death to the