The far distant shore 3


The verse "On a far distant shore" may have been taken from the Homer's Odyssey, although just one among dozens of versions is translated in that way. From the close-in-time but more popular "King James" version, Joyce's source for The Odyssey, it's similar: "from afar, from a distant land". About the other versions, compare the differences with a translation which became the "standard" in 1961:
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The Odyssey was set in Greece. Rick Wright was in Greece in the summer of 1964, before knowing Syd in September, and in December Syd wrote to his girlfriend Jenny Spires that he wanted to be in Greece. Eventually Rick went in Greece in 1966, but Syd never went there. Islands miles distant from Spain like Ibiza and neighbouring Formentera have shores Homerically suggestive as well, and Syd spent his holidays two times there, in 1967 and in 1969.
Homer. "Book Seven: Gardens and Firelight." The Odyssey. Trans. Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Doubleday, 1961. 124. Print. http://www.bookrags.com/notes/od/PART7.html