Name/Date/Period

 


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Title/Auth./First Pub. Date (3)

The Odyssey by Homer, circa 700

Characters (3)

Odysseus, Penelope, Telemachus
Poseidon, Athena, Suitors

Settings/Place Names (2)
Ithica, Odysseus's Palace, Mediterranean and Aegean Seas, Southern Greece, Troy, Land of the Lotus Eaters, Island of the Wind God, Land of the Cyclopes, Circes Isle, Underworld, Calypso's Isle, Phaeacia

Chronology of Major Events (5)
1. Trojan War

5. Circe

 9. Ithica disguised

2. Achaeans win war

6. Underworld

 10. Bow Contest

3.Lotus Eaters & then Cyclopes

 7. Calypso 11. Defeat Suitors/Kills Maid

4. Wind God

 8. Phaeacians 12. Reunion with Penelope
Major Short Quotations w/page # (5)
#1 Of all that breathes and crawls across the earth, our mother earth breeds nothing feebler than a man.
So long as the gods grant him power, spring in his knees, he thinks he will never suffer affliction down the years.
But then, when the happy gods bring on the long hard times, bear them he must, against his will, and steel his heart.

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#2 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 and the Sungod blotted out the day of their return.
#3 Odysseus as a man whose prominence and actions stood the test of time,
“Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy . Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds, may pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea, fighting to save his life and bring his comrades home.”
(Book 1, Lines 1-6) (Aikens. The Odyssey. 12 Apr. 2006 <http://www.tqnyc.org/NYC051339/odyssey.htm>)

Social/Political/Psycological/Philosophical Aspects [Themes] (10)

1. Perseverance through guile, courage, strength, and determination
2. Vengeance: gods towards men (disobedience), leaders towards men(disloyalty)
3. Man is always travelling "home": to find/define himself/to gain maturity- life is a journey of obstacles and temptations - is humility home?

4. Hospitality: moral code and basis of survival in sea-dominated culture
5. Power of the Gods: Man is nothing without them
6. Cunning Trumps Strength: Cyclops, Pen, Athena
7. Loyalty: to gods, leaders, husbands and family as well as servants to masters
8. Arrogance: universal and self-destructive

Technical, Structural and Stylistic Strategies (10)

Third Person Omniscient - Celebratory and nostalgic tone - Repetition
Epic Poem: digressions, long speeches, journeys or quests, various trials or tests of the hero, similes, metaphors, divine intervention and epithets [an epithet characterizes the nature of a character, object, or event] like “rosy-fingered Dawn.” Circe:“nymph with lovely braids"

Conflicts/ Problems (10)
1. Od: Getting home (becoming mature), overcoming suitors who threaten estate

2. Pen: Avoiding suitors, staying loyal
3. Telemachus: find father, gain respect

Opening Scene (1)

 

Closing Scene (1)