English 9H/ The Odyssey
Reading due Thursday, March 22
You need not read Book XVIII, “Blows and a Queen’s Beauty,” but you might find it helpful to
read an on-line summary. Skip ahead to Book XIX, where Penelope questions “the old beggar”
about himself: page 356, line 124 (“Friend, let me ask you first of all;…”) and continue to page
358, line 191 (“You were not born of mythic oak or stone.”) The next pages are optional – here
the beggar makes up a long tale about Odysseus and tells Penelope her husband will soon be
home. Finally, read the first section on page 363, lines 353 – 360. (The rest of this chapter is not
required, but if you are interested, there is an exciting scene where Penelope’s handmaid
Eurykleia, who was Odysseus’s nurse as a young boy, bathes the old beggar and recognizes
Odysseus’s distinctive boyhood scar on his foot; he swears her to secrecy.)
Friday, March 23 (change from calendar): You will have an open book quiz on Books XVI –
XIX in class today. Also bring your vocabulary books to class today; you should have some time
to begin Lesson 6.
Creative Response #2 must be turned in by Friday, March 23.
English 9H/ The Odyssey
Reading due Thursday, March 22
You need not read Book XVIII, “Blows and a Queen’s Beauty,” but you might find it helpful to
read an on-line summary. Skip ahead to Book XIX, where Penelope questions “the old beggar”
about himself: page 356, line 124 (“Friend, let me ask you first of all;…”) and continue to page
358, line 191 (“You were not born of mythic oak or stone.”) The next pages are optional – here
the beggar makes up a long tale about Odysseus and tells Penelope her husband will soon be
home. Finally, read the first section on page 363, lines 353 – 360. (The rest of this chapter is not
required, but if you are interested, there is an exciting scene where Penelope’s handmaid
Eurykleia, who was Odysseus’s nurse as a young boy, bathes the old beggar and recognizes
Odysseus’s distinctive boyhood scar on his foot; he swears her to secrecy.)
Friday, March 23 (change from calendar): You will have an open book quiz on Books XVI –
XIX in class today. Also bring your vocabulary books to class today; you should have some time
to begin Lesson 6.
Creative Response #2 must be turned in by Friday, March 23.