Author and Background Information
 Simple:
The Fate of a Nation.
(Ithaka, to be precise)
 Witty
 Strong and well built
 Handsome and does quite well with the women.
 Intelligent
 Manages to get out of bad situations with his
cleverness.
 He appears superhuman, yet flawed.
 His wife, Penelope.
 His son, Telemachus.
 Suitors: This is a term for people who court or try to
woo another.
 Eurykleia, Odysseus and Telemakhos’ nurse
 Laertes, Odysseus’ father.
 His Crew
 Many others as he travels; keep track of who is who
and who is connected/related to whom. It will save
you lots of re-reading!
 Akhaians or Danaans = the Greeks.
 You will hear Telemakhos call to them or criticize them.
It is just another name of the Greeks to distinguish them
from the Trojans.
 This takes place in Greece and throughout the
Mediterranean world.
 Time estimates for this journey are varied
 Most scholars place the story telling to be over 3,000
years old.
 Talk about writing a 3,000-year-best-seller! Phew!
 Epic poet begins in the middle of the action – “in-medias res”
 Tells significant prior events through flashback
 Begins with an invocation to the muses (Calliope is muse of
epic poetry)
 Each line is the same poetic meter (dactylic hexameter!)
In-media res
Invocation of the
muses
Epic Poetry
Poetic meter
Flashbacks and
repetition
Some things you are familiar with:
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•
•
•
similes and metaphors
epithets
symbols and omens
repetition
This is a function of the fact that
this was a STORY TOLD ORALLY
•
Some things you may not be so familiar with:
• long speeches and little dialogue
• catalogues
• great listing of people, especially in battle sequence
• Digressions
• Moving away from the topic at hand to discuss
something related, often from the past or tied to the
matter at hand in some way, but still off topic. (The
phrase, “And I digress” means you’ve gotten away
from your point.)
 Dactylic Hexameter = a form of poetic meter or rhyme
scheme
 The meter consists of lines made from six ("hexa") feet.
 A “dactyl” is a long syllable followed by two short
syllables, as determined by syllable weight.
 A useful mnemonic for remembering this long-short-short
pattern is to consider the relative lengths of the three bones
of a human finger: beginning at the knuckle, it is one long
bone followed by two shorter ones (hence the name "dactyl").
1.
Creation of characters with uncomplicated motives
2.
Actions that are true to Human Nature
3.
Plots that blend the joys of living with the tragic
sense of life.
4.
Long, musical lines (in the original Greek or in a
poetry translation)
 people of importance to society
 national hero
 monsters - for the purpose of playing up the good traits of the

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

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hero
fate of a nation (ex. Ithaca)
setting of worldwide scope (ex. Mediterranean world)
journeys or quests
tests for the hero
divine intervention
 intelligent and clever
 courageous
 strong and well built
 performs heroic feats
 wants to defeat evil
 adventuresome
 manages to get out of every bad situation using his
cleverness
 faithful to family, country and gods
These are the lasting and enduring lessons we aim to take from
this reading:
1.
The Oral Tradition and its devices were used to explain and
teach natural and religious origins, political origins, history of
culture, and acceptable behavior for society.
2. Understanding how an epic poem is structure and the devices
it employs enables full appreciation of its message.
3. Epic heroes are both courageous, intelligent leaders and flawed
humans; they reflect the culture from which they emerge.
4. An odyssey takes one well beyond the familiar geography and
explore the boundaries of human psyche and human society
both literally and figuratively.
5. An individual’s understanding of self, his interaction with
others and the world form his identity.
6. Home is a vital link to one's past, present, and future.
 Let’s read the opening together to get a feel for the
dactylic hexameter!