The Odyssey Book One Handout The Features of an Epic, Study notes of English Literature

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The Odyssey Book One Handout

The Features of an Epic

An epic is a long, book length poem that tells a story about a hero. The ancient poet Homer wrote both The Iliad (the story of the Greeks defeating the their enemies during the ten year Trojan War) and The Odyssey (the story of the Greek king Odysseus’ tumultuous ten year journey home to Ithaca). The following characteristics are just some distinctive elements of the epic genre:

1. Beginning in medias res or “in the middle of things.”
2. An invocation or prayer to the gods for inspiration at the beginning of the poem.
3. Epic similes or Homeric similes , which are more involved, more ornate than the typical simile, often lasting last several lines.
4. Epithets or phrases that rename characters: for example, Athena is called “the clear eyed goddess,” Odysseus “the master tactician,” and Hermes “the giant killer.” These epithets sometimes function as appositive phrases.

Activity One: Reading and Annotating the Invocation

Read the invocation and the first few lines of Book One of The Odyssey below. Follow the instructions below as you annotate:

1. For your first reading, define the terms that have been bolded for you. Write a synonym or definition directly above the boxed word.
2. For your second reading, use a handbook of mythological terms, the glossary at the back of your text, or the Internet to look up background information for the shaded terms. Write the explanation directly above the term.
3. Finally, use the questions on the right side of the text to guide you as you record your insights and impressions about the text.

goddess of the arts 1 Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns …

driven time and again off course, once he had plundered holy the city that Greeks defeated the hallowed heights of Troy.

Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds,

5 many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea, friends fighting to save his life and bring his comrades home. tried

Explain the underlined epithet. Who is it describing, and what does it suggest about him?

The epithet describes Odysseus, who is tricky and clever.

Throughout the passage, highlight for patterns of diction. Write the effect in the margin beside the text.

The negative diction shows that

But he could not save them from disaster, hard as he strove—

the recklessness of their own ways destroyed them all,

the blind fools, they devoured the cattle of the Sun Helios 10 and the Sungod blotted out the day of their return. King of the gods Launch out on his story, Muse, daughter of Zeus,

start from where you will—sing for our time too.

BEGINNING OF BOOK ONE , “Athena Inspires the Prince”

By now,

all the survivors, all who avoided headlong death

15 were safe at home, escaped the wars and waves.

But one man alone … goddess nymph his heart set on his wife and his return—Calypso, enchanting maiden the bewitching nymph , the lustrous goddess, held him back,

deep in her arching caverns, craving him for a husband.

20 But then, when the wheeling seasons brought the year around,

that year spun out by the gods when he should reach his home,

Ithaca—though not even there would he be free of trials,

even among his loved ones—then every god took pity, the sea god boiling all except Poseidon. He raged on, seething against

25 the great Odysseus till he reached his native land.

Odysseus and his men have been through painful trials. The words “foolishness” and “recklessness” convey that Odysseus’s men ultimately died as a result of their own actions.

Read the underlined portion. What is the tone (the speaker’s attitude toward the subject)? The narrator’s tone is respectful toward the Muse.

What are some of the conflicts that Odysseus has faced? Odysseus has faced war, the struggle of traveling by ocean, and a manipulative goddess who wants to keep him from going home.

What obstacles does Odysseus still face? He will face trials at home, and he will face the anger of Poseidon.

Activity Two — Objective Summary: In the space below, write an objective summary of what is happening in the

passage. You might use the questions below to help you write your summary:

● Who is the text about? ○ The text is about Odysseus, a great warrior. ● Where is this story taking place? ○ Odysseus is still lost on the open sea. ● When does the action begin? ○ The action begins after the Trojan War. ● What seems to be the problem? ○ Odysseus cannot get home. ○ Odysseus is being detained by a goddess named Calypso. ● Why is there a problem? Is there any background information? ○ He is all alone because his fellow soldiers have died because they ate the sun god’s cattle and were punished by death.

1st Draft: The text is about Odysseus, a great warrior. Odysseus is still lost on the open sea. The action begins after the Trojan War. Odysseus cannot get home. Odysseus is being detained by a goddess named Calypso. He is all alone because his fellow soldiers have died because they ate the sun god’s cattle and were punished by death.

2nd Draft: After the Trojan War, Odysseus, a great warrior, is still lost on the open sea. He is alone because his men ate the sun god’s cattle and were punished by death. Odysseus cannot get home because Calypso, a goddess, is detaining him.

Activity Three: Determining Character Through Conflict

Scholars call Books One through Four of The Odyssey “The Telemachy.” In these introductory books, although we learn a little about the background of the conflicts that Odysseus is experiencing as a wanderer as well, the focus is the problems that plague his wife Penelope and son Telemachus back home in Ithaca. As you re read the selected passages, mark portions of the text that reveal the characterization of Telemachus, Athena, Penelope, and the suitors. When you finish a passage, complete the activities following each excerpt.

Passage 1 from Book One: Pages 80 81, lines 96 146

Concise summary for context:

Athena convinces Zeus to let her send Hermes to Ogygia to announce that Calypso must free Odysseus. Meanwhile, Athena will visit Ithaca (in disguise as Mentes) to encourage Telemachus to both order the suitors out of his palace and set off on a journey to learn news of his father. Athena arrives in Ithaca at the palace door to find Telemachus passively daydreaming about what would happen if his father returned to get rid of the suitors.

What type of conflict does Telemachus deal with in this passage? Provide textual evidence for your answer.

Telemachus is facing bullying, “swaggering suitors” who are eating him out of house and home (126). The palace is no longer the place of reverence and respect that it was when his father ruled as king.

How does he deal with that conflict? Provide textual evidence for your answer.

Telemachus, a young man, simply sits, his “heart obsessed with grief” dreaming about what would happen if “his magnificent father.... [dropped] from the clouds [to] drive these suitors all in a rout” (133-6).

Assertions about characters based on the passage:

Telemachus is passive. Athena is proactive.

[CHARACTER TRAIT ADJECTIVE] [CHARACTER TRAIT ADJECTIVE]

Passage 2 from Book One: Pages 84 86, lines 240 319

Concise summary for context:

Athena, disguised as Mentes, and old friend of Odysseus, interrogates Telemachus about the state of affairs in Ithaca and specifically in the palace. Odysseus, unsure and timid, says that he has never met his father and feels like he is unlucky. When Mentes asks why Telemachus is letting the suitors take advantage of them and the estate, Telemachus expresses his deep desire for his father to come back and make things right. As a result, Mentes encourages Telemachus to first call the suitors to an assembly and order them to leave. Second, he must prepare for a journey to go find news of his father.

What type of conflict occurs in this passage? Provide textual evidence for your answer.

Athena/Mentes asks some hard questions of Telemachus, and Telemachus seems like he has given up. In fact, he claims that the suitors will “grind [him] down as well” (293).

How is the conflict dealt with? Provide textual evidence for your answer.

Athena urges Telemachus to action. She asks that he “think how to drive these suitors from [his] halls” (312).

Assertions about characters based on the passage:

Telemachus is discouraged.

[CHARACTER TRAIT ADJECTIVE]

Athena is inspiring.

[CHARACTER TRAIT ADJECTIVE]

The suitors are disrespectful.

[CHARACTER TRAIT ADJECTIVE]

Passage 3 from Book One: Pages 87 89, lines 367 419

Concise summary for context:

Athena, disguised as Mentes, urges Telemachus to kill the suitors, and then she makes her exit. Telemachus feels stronger after his visit with the goddess. Meanwhile the bard is singing about Troy, and Penelope reprimands him, telling him to stop singing that song. Telemachus corrects his mother, reminding her that he is the man of the house who will give orders.

What type of conflict occurs in this passage? Provide textual evidence for your answer.

Telemachus experiences minor conflict with his mother, who orders the bard to “break off this song--the unendurable song that always rends the heart inside of [her}” (392).

How is the conflict dealt with? Provide textual evidence for your answer.

The text describes that Telemachus is “poised” when he chastises his mother, telling her to “tend to her own tasks” and reminding her that “[he] holds the reins of power in this house” (397, 410, 412-413).

Assertions about characters based on the passage:

Telemachus is confident.

[CHARACTER TRAIT ADJECTIVE]

Penelope is grief-stricken.

[CHARACTER TRAIT ADJECTIVE]

Passage 4 from Book One: Pages 89 90, lines 420 456

Concise summary for context:

Telemachus turns to the suitors and tells them that they are expected to report for assembly the next day and that they must leave his palace. All of the suitors remain silent except for Antinous, who mocks him. Telemachus bravely corrects his behavior.

What type of conflict occurs in this passage? Provide textual evidence for your answer.

The “insolent, overweening” “suitors who plague [his] mother” have become the greatest source of

Telemachus’s misery (422-423).

How is the conflict dealt with? Provide textual evidence for your answer.

Before Athena came, Telemachus was meek, but after she left, “Telemachus took command” and told them “You must leave this palace” (422, 430).

Assertions about characters based on the passage:

Telemachus is assertive.

[CHARACTER TRAIT ADJECTIVE]

The suitors are rude and prideful.

[CHARACTER TRAIT ADJECTIVE]