The Odyssey
Epic
“An epic is an encyclopedia of the
manners, customs, and values that bind
a whole civilization together.”
W.T. Jewkes
But the textbook definition is…
• A long narrative poem about the
adventures of a hero who embodies the
values of his culture.
Characteristics of an Epic
• The protagonist is a physically impressive hero
of national or historical importance who goes
on a quest or journey and is glorified at the
end of the work.
• The setting involves much of the known
physical world and sometimes the land of the
dead.
• The story is rooted in a specific culture and
society.
What Makes an Epic
Hero?
•Noble birth
•Superior strength and intelligence
•Embodies the values of his culture
•Possesses a flaw
•Goes on a journey or quest
•Overcomes obstacles
•Continually put through tests
•Travels to places most people cannot go
•Assisted by divine being(s)
•Attains immortality
The Style of an Epic
Epics begin in medias res, literally translated it
means “in the middle of things”… the audience is
thrown into the story and the missing pieces are
filled in using literary techniques like extended
flashbacks, multiple story lines, and a variety of
narration techniques.
Epics contain a unique
combination of …
• History (Trojan War)
• Legend (an unverified story handed
down by generations and generally
accepted as factually based)
• Myth (stories that use fantasy to
express ideas about life that cannot be
expressed easily in realistic terms… the
gods, creatively woven tales, fantastical
creatures)
How is an Epic a
form of Poetry?
The earliest forms of “story telling” were
sung tales. Our literary tradition began
as an oral tradition. To help people
remember long stories, rhapsodes
combined these stories with a “beat”…
more like a chant. Is it easier for you to
remember a 3 minute song or a 3 minute
speech?
Poetic Devices Unique
to the Epic
Epithets (ˈe-pə-ˌthet )
•
•
•
A descriptive phrase that is used to characterize a
person or thing. An epithet would be used in place of a
person’s name to avoid too much repetition and to give
life to the character with added description. In a long
tale this was a subtle way to remind the audience
what/who a character is.
One of the most common epithets in the Odyssey is
“Gray-eyed goddess” (Athena)
Others include “swift-footed Achilles” or “rosy-fingered
dawn”
Poetic Devices Unique
to the Epic
Homeric Simile
•
•
An extended comparison using heroic or epic events and
compares them to easily recognizable items
"He pushed aside the bushes, breaking off with his great
hand a single branch of olive, whose leaves might shield
him in his nakedness, so came out rustling like a mountain
lion, rain-drenched, wind-buffeted, but in his might at
ease, with burning eyes - who prowls among the herds or
flocks, or after game, his hungry belly taking him near
stout homesteads for his prey."
Homer
Not this one----
• He was a well known storyteller from ancient
Greece
• By trade, he was a rhapsode (literally a “singer
of tales”)
– These men were the historians and
entertainers as well as the myth-makers of
their time
– They traveled from place to place singing of
recent events, heroes, or gods/goddesses
• Credited with telling the epics the Iliad and
the Odyssey
The Iliad
•
•
•
An epic… this is Homer’s account of
the Trojan War
This epic is set in the final weeks of
the 10th year of the Trojan War
The Greeks won the war, reduced the
city of Troy to smoldering ruins, and
butchered all the inhabitants, except
for those they took as slaves back to
Greece.
The Trojan War
The war began when the goddesses Athena, Hera and
Aphrodite, bribed the prince of Troy, Paris, to name one of
them as the most fair. He was offered power, wealth or the
most beautiful woman as bribes. He chose Aphrodite as the
most fair and in return, she gave him the most beautiful
woman, Helen of Troy. The problem was that Helen was already
married. Her husband, King Menelaus (men-uh-lay'-uhs) of Sparta
and his brother Agamemnon (ag-uh-mem'-nahn), king of Mycenae (mahysee-nee), led an expedition of Achaean (ə-ˈkē-ən) troops (Greeks) to Troy
and thus began the 10 year war. After the deaths of many Greek heroes,
including the Achaeans Achilles and Ajax, and the Trojans Hector and
Paris, the city fell after Odysseus’s Trojan Horse trick caught the
Trojans off guard.
The Odyssey
This epic tells of the adventures of a famous
Greek hero, Odysseus as he makes his way
Home to Ithaca from the Trojan War.
This narrative has everything the ancient Greek
could have wanted in a story…it was suspenseful,
action-packed, thought-provoking, romantic,
scary, funny, gory, and didactic (taught lessons)
all at once!
Odysseus: A Hero in Trouble
Before the Trojan War, Odysseus…..
- married the beautiful and faithful Penelope
- had one son, Telemachus
When called to serve in the Trojan War,
Odysseus……
- pretended to be insane so he wouldn’t have to
go (he dressed as a peasant, plowed his field,
and sowed it with salt)
- revealed his sanity to save his son’s life (who
was placed in front of the plow)
The Wooden Horse Trick
During the Trojan War, Odysseus
- performed extremely well as a soldier and
commander
- thought of the famous wooden-horse trick
that lead to the defeat of Troy
Structure of the Odyssey
The story begins with Telemachus,
Odysseus’s son. Telemachus is searching
for his father because he….
- is being threatened by rude, powerful men
who want to marry his mother and rob
Telemachus of his inheritance
- needs his father to return home and restore
order
The Structure of the Odyssey
Readers learn that Odysseus….
- is stranded on an island, longing to get home
- has been gone for twenty years—he has spent
ten years at war and ten years trying to get
home
- is in the middle of a midlife crisis and
searching for inner peace
Troy
Troy was
located in
what is
now
Turkey
Journey
Where is the theme of the
journey found in Western
literature?
Journey
-
Fairy tales
novels, such as The Incredible Journey,
Moby-Dick, and The Hobbit
movies, such as The Wizard of Oz and Star
Wars