Odyssey Exam Part 2

279-284: Odysseus - we better stay away from there...

"...I remembered the words of the blind seer, Theban Tiresias, and of Circe, who gave me strict warnings to shun the island of the warmth-giving Sun."-Odysseus

Charybdis 108-112

"Beneath this tree the divine Charybdis sucks down the black water. Three times a day she belches it out and three times a day she sucks it down horribly. Don't be there when she sucks it down. No one could save you, not even Poseidon, who makes the earth tremble.- Circe

192-199: The Sirens sing their song

"Come hither, Odysseus, glory of the Achaeans, stop your ship so you can hear our voices. No one has sailed his black ship past here without listening to the honeyed sound from our lips. He journeys on delighted and knows more than before. For we know everything that the Greeks and Trojans suffered in wide Troy by the will of the gods. We know all that happens on the teeming earth."- Sirens

Odysseus prays to the goddess (332-335) Book 5

"Hear me, mystic child of the storm god, O hear me now, as you heard me not when I was shattered by the Earthshaker's blows. Grant that I come to Phaeacia pitied and loved."

Odysseus- Scylla and Charybdis Lines 116-118

"I beg you ,goddess, tell me, is there any way I can escape from Charybdis and still protect my men from the other?"-Odysseus

396-399: Zeus calls his shot...

"I will strike their ship with sterling lightning and shatter it to bits on the wine-purple sea.

305-310: Ody say, "Whatever ... but NOT THIS ONE THING!"

"If we find any sheep or cattle on this island, no man will kill a single cow or sheep in his recklessness, but will be content to eat the food immortal Circe gave us."-Odysseus

177-188: Odysseus at the mast, his crew at the oars

"My men got up and furled the sails, stowed them in the ship's hold, then sat down at their oars and whitened the water with pine. Myself, I got out a wheel of wax, cut it up with my sharp knife, and kneaded the pieces until they were soft and warm, a quick job, with Lord Helios glaring down from above.Then I went down the rows and smeared the wax into all my men's ears. They in turn bound me hand and foot upright to the mast, tied the ends of the rope to the mast, and then sat down and beat the sea white with their oars."-Odysseus

287-295: Eurylochus - we will just stay a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiittle while ...

"No, let's give in to the black night now and make our supper. We'll stay by the ship, board her in the morning, and put out to sea."-Eurylochus

The Wandering Rocks 61-67

"One route takes you past beetling crags pounded by blue-eyed Amphitrite's seas. The blessed gods call these the Wandering Rocks. Not even birds can wing their way through. Even the doves that bring ambrosia to Zeus crash and perish on that slick stone, and the Father has to replenish their numbers."-Circe

The Sirens 49-55

"Row past them, first kneading sweet wax and smearing it into the ears of your crew so they cannot hear. But if you yourself have a mind to listen, have them bind you hand and foot upright in the mast-step and tie the ends of the rope to the mast. Then you can enjoy the song of the Sirens." -Circe

Scylla 86-99

"The strongest archer could not shoot an arrow up from his ship all the way to the cave, which is the lair of Scylla. She barks and yelps like a young puppy, but she is a monster, an evil monster that not even a god would be glad to see. She has-listen to this- twelve gangly legs and six very long necks, and on each neck is perched a bloodcurdling head, each with three rows of close teeth full of black death. Up to her middle she is concealed in the cave, but her heads dangle into the abyss, and she fishes by the rock for dolphins and seals or other large creatures that the moaning sea breeds in multitudes. No crew can boast to have sailed past Scylla unscathed."- Circe

Cattle of the Sun Lines 131-134 and 140-148

"Then you will come to Thrinacia, an island that pastures the cattle of the Sun, seven herds of cattle and seven flocks of sheep, fifty in each. They are immortal."-Circe "When she bore them and reared them she sent them to Thrinacia, to live far away and keep their father's spiral-horned cattle. If you leave these unharmed and keep your mind on your journey, you might yet struggle home to Ithaca.But if you harm them, I foretell disaster for your ship and crew, and even if you escape yourself, you shall come home late and badly, having lost all your companions."-Circe

Escaping by "ripping the sea" (146), Odysseus ship sails west (as the east wind continues to blow them away from Ithaca) towards the island of Aeaea ...

"They rowed for their lives, ripping the sea, and my ship sped joyfully out and away from the beetling rocks." (after Laestrygonians)

244-246: What is Charybdis exactly?

"When she belched it up she seethed and bubbled like a boiling cauldron and the spray would reach the top of the cliffs."

Book 11 lines 345-351 "Well, Phaeacians, does this man impress you with his looks, stature, and well-balanced mind? He is my guest, moreover, though each of you shares in that honor. Do not send him off then, too hastily, and do not stint your gifts to one in such need. You have many treasures stored in your halls by grace of the gods."

- Arete (interjecting a comment)

Q1 - "Nausicaa, how could your mother have raise such a careless child?"

- Athena in the form of Nausicaa's friend, daughter of the famed mariner Dymas. (encouraging her to wash her "soiled" clothes)

Book 6 lines 281-292 "It's their rude remarks I would rather avoid. There are some insolent louts in this town, and I can just hear one of them saying: 'Well who's this tall, handsome stranger trailing along behind Nausicaa? Where'd she pick him up? She'll probably marry him, some shipwreck she's taken in from parts unknown. He's sure not local. Maybe a god has come to answer her prayers, dropped out of the sky for her to have and to hold. It's just as well she's found herself a husband from somewhere else, since she turns up her nose at the many fine Phaeacians who woo her.' "

- Nausicaa (she doesn't want the townspeople to think she's conceited for walking with someone who isn't a local)

Book 11 (510-513) "Don't try to sell me on death, Odysseus. I'd rather be a hired hand back up on earth, slaving away for some poor dirt farmer, than lord it over all these withered dead."

-Achilles (does not want to rule the land of the dead)

81-86: "Begone from this island instantly ... You are cursed by heaven!"

-Aeolus (will not help Odysseus again)

Book 11 Line 441 "But that b****, my wife, turned her back on me...."

-Agamemnon (upset and salty about his wife's actions, women can't be trusted)

Q2 - "I loved him, I took care of him, I even told him / I'd make him immortal and ageless all of his days." (134-135)

-Calypso (her unrefusable offer to Odysseus)

Book 8, Epic simile lines 566-574 "A woman wails as she throws herself upon her husband's body. He has fallen in battle before the town walls, fighting to the last to defend his city and protect his children, As she sees him dying and gasping for breath she clings to him and shrieks, while behind her soldiers prod their spears into her shoulders and back, and as they lead her away into slavery her tear-drenched face is a mask of pain."

-Compares the wailing and grieving women to Odysseus after he hears the bard Demodocus' song about Troy and the Trojan horse

"Let's just get out of here with those that are left."

-Eurylochus (after coming back from Circe's house when she turned men into swine)

Book 4; Key Quote 1: (lines 146-152) I have never seen such a resemblance between any two people ... as between this man and Odysseus' son ... Telemachus, who was a newborn baby when for my sake, shameless thing that I was, the Greeks came to Troy with war in their hearts.

-Helen

Book 10 Line 33 "Our own folly undid us."

-Odysseus (Ody. and crew on Aeolia)

"We are not going down to Hades ... before our time."

-Odysseus (after killing antlered stag that will ensure they won't starve to death)

Q3 - "Hear me, Riverlord, whoever you are / and however men pray to you: / I am a fugitive from the sea / and Poseidon's persecution, / a wandering mortal, pitiful, / to the gods I come to you, / to your water and your knees (449-454)

-Odysseus (praying that he may make it to the land of the Phaeacians)

Q2 - "Hear me, mystic child of the Storm God, / O hear me now, as you heard me not / when I was shattered by the Earthshaker's blows."

-Odysseus (praying to Athena that he comes to Phaeacia pitied and loved)

Book 6 lines 149-152 "I implore you, Lady: Are you a goddess or mortal? If you are one of heaven's divinities I think you are most like great Zeus' daughter Artemis. You have her looks, her stature, her form.

-Odysseus (speaking to Nausicaa after thinking about how he should approach her)

45-51: "This guy gets everything ... Let's have a quick look, and see what's here."

-Odysseus' men/crew (opening the bag of winds)

"Whether it's a goddess or a woman, let's call her out now."

-Polites (Circe is singing, and men exemplify lust)

Book 4; Key Quote 3: (lines 584-588) It is Laertes' son, whose home is in Ithaca. I saw him on an island, shedding salt tears, in the halls of Calypso, who keeps him there against his will. He has no way to get home to his native land.

-Proteus (revealing the identity of the man held back by the sea)

Book 4; Key Quote 2: (lines 338-343) I came to see if you could tell me anything about my father. My land is in ruin. I'm being eaten out of house and home. by hostile men who constantly throng my halls, slaughtering my sheep and horned cattle in their arrogant courtship of my mother.

-Telemachus (talking to Menelaus)

Odysseus compares his men, his ship, and himself to a few types of creatures. Name them and how those comparisons work (lines 423-464).

1. Compares helmsmen to diver falling from stern like a diver. 2. Compares men going overboard to sea crows bobbing (how they used to be great, but now they're unable to do anything. 3. Compares hanging to the tall fig tree to a bat. 4. Compares his men and ship dying at Charybdis to an old man, one who spent all day judging quarrels that young men bring to him, rises from the marketplace and goes to dinner (spit up by Charybdis).

MYCENAE FALLS

1150 BC

DARK AGES

1208 BC - 843 BC

TROY FALLS

1220 BC

MYCENAEAN PERIOD

1500 BC - 1208 BC

ILIAD & ODYSSEY

750 BC APPROX

FIRST OLYMPICS

776 BC

ARCHAIC PERIOD

843 BC - 405 BC

Book 6 Epic simile (101-107)

Artemis sometimes roams the mountains- immense Taygetus, or Erymanthus- showering arrows upon boars or fleet antelope, and with her play the daughters of Zeus who range the wild woods-and Leto is glad that her daughter towers above them all with her shining brow- though they are beautiful all - compares Nausicaa to Artemis, and tells us that she treats her servants like the daughters of Zeus (well)

Book 6 lines 33-35 You're not going to be a virgin for long, you know! All the best young men in Phaeacia are eager to marry you- as well they should be.

Athena (in the form of Nausicaa's friend) - telling her she needs to dress herself well bc she wants people to speak highly of her

Q1 - "You gods are the most jealous ba**ards in the universe / persecuting any goddess whoever openly takes / a mortal lover to her bed and sleeps with him." (118-120)

Calypso (pointing out the hypocrisy of the male gods)

"Do as I say and we will all get home safely..." This is technically a lie. How so?

Either way, they will lose men. If they go through Scylla, they will lose six, if they go through Charybdis, they will lose all.

What are lines 494-497 an example of, and what do they mean in plain language? "A solitary man who lives on the edge of the wilderness and has no neighbors, will hide a charred log deep in the black embers and so keep alive the fire's seed and not have to rekindle it from who knows where."

Epic simile- it describes how Odysseus dug out a place for himself to rest so that he would not have to find a source of heat or comfort elsewhere.

Danaans

Greeks

402: Odysseus tears his men a new one...

He chewed out the men, but there was nothing he could do.

231-234: Why no warning?

He didn't want his crew to freeze up and abandon him.

Lines 163-171: How does Odysseus prepare the men to brave the Sirens?

He tells them they must avoid them and pass their meadows. Only Odysseus would listen, and he'd be bound hand and foot upright in the mast-step-step (ends of rope would be tied to mast). If Ody. commands the men to release him, they should only tie him tighter.

Narrative Order

In Homer's process, things begin with the gods first council, flashes back several times via Alcinous' curiosity & Telemachus' travels, and ends up back in Ithaca ...

Chronological Order

In real time, these events unfold from after the Trojan War until Odysseus liberates his old home and eliminates the suitors ...

349-361: Eurylochus makes a good point. What is it?

It is better to die from gulping down saltwater then dying of hunger and wasting away on the island.

CREDIBILITY

Similarly, Odysseus, like any narrator, needs to be reliable to the listener. Unreliable narrators may be entertaining (or not) but credibility makes their character more powerful and necessary to the story itself. Verisimilitude is a literary technique that Homer uses, and which Odysseus established with his audience, that allows the listener/reader to possess a "willing suspension of disbelief" in the account by the storyteller. Even when a reader knows a story is fiction, a well-told tale establishes, engages, and asserts verisimilitude in the telling to empower the tale to the audience

259-261: What device does Homer use to describe the monster here? Which monster is it? "....how a fisherman on a jutting rock casts his bait with a long pole. The horned hook sinks into the sea, and when he catches a fish, he pulls it writhing a squirming out of the water."

Simile, Scylla

Book 5 Epic simile (lines 54-56)

Skimming the waves like a cormorant, the birds that patrols the saltwater billows hunting for fish, seaspume on its plumage- talking about Hermes on his way to Ogygia

405-408: Straight up horror movie stuff here ... what happens?

The hides crawled, and the meat mooed on the spits.

FOIL

This literary device illustrates and reveals information, traits, values, or motivations of one character through the comparison and contrast of another character. A literary foil is NEVER a major character FOILS allow the primary character, from the protagonist to the antagonist, or even important secondary characters, to develop more fully in contrast against the flatness of the foil... *Eurylochus to Ody. throughout the journey *Antinous and Eurymachus are foils to each other in Book 1, and both to Telemachus. *Elpenor and Ajax are foils to Odysseus in Book 11 (Land of Dead) *Both Anaeus (Irus) and Melantho serve as foils to Odysseus and Eurycleia in Book 18 and 19

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE

Throughout this narrative, the reader must understand that Odysseus relates his past adventures to an audience in Alcinous' halls. In fiction, this is known as a "frame story" or "frame narrative"; this 'story within a story' has long been a common technique in the use of flashback and exposition in a tale.

Book 8- new epithet for Zeus (line 502)

Zeus, Hera's thundering lord

Book 9 lines 502-503 "Tell him that Odysseus the marauder did it, Son of Laertes, whose home is on Ithaca."

_Odysseus (his arrogance overwhelms him, and in revealing his name, he renews Poseidon's wrath against him)

Catalogues

a lengthy list of things, places, or persons that creates a rhetorical effect; it can be repetitive and seeks to portray a scene vividly and give credibility to the teller.

Epic Poem

a long narrative poem written in grand style using elevated language that relates the story of gods, heroes, and origin stories, wars, or key events in the history of a nation or people.

Invocation to the Muse

a prayer to a muse when beginning an artistic endeavor, offering honor to that goddess for help in making that effort as perfect as possible, and in deference to her majesty. Epic poets invoke Calliope.

Swagger

a rude way of walking or behaving. (arrogant)

Epic Similes

also called Homeric similes, these are an extended similes often running to several lines, used typically in epic poetry to intensify the heroic stature of the subject and to serve as decoration.

Ambush

an attack in which the attacker hides and surprises the enemy

oblivious

completely unaware

conceited

excessively proud of oneself; vain; arrogant

kinsmen

family, friends, close neighbors

Epithets

from the Greek phrase epitithenai, meaning "to add" or "to put on," these give a special name to make a character or place special, memorable, and more important than other parts of the story.

Uncouth

impolite and having no manners.

ravenous

incredible hungry

Lacedaemon

land of lovely women

Hellenic

means "light." Grandmother of all nations.

plight

problem

Soothsayer

psychic who can see the future.

Reconaissance

scout out

Grave

serious and solemn.

Argives

soldiers from Argos

Zithers

stringed instrument =, half guitar, half harp, usually 30-40 strings

Hospitality

the friendly and generous reception and entertaining of guests, visitors, or strangers. Important to Zeus, Hestia, Hera, and the Greek home.

cruel

the suitors

condescension

tone of talking down to someone; Zeus talks to Athena this way because he can get away with it.