INTRODUCTION TO THE ODYSSEY

Transcription

1 Much have I travell d in the realms of gold, And many goodly states and kingdoms seen; Round many western islands have I been Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold. Oft of one wide expanse had I been told That deep-brow d Homer ruled as his demesne; Yet did I never breathe its pure serene Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold: Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken; Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes He star d at the Pacific and all his men Look d at each other with a wild surmise Silent, upon a peak in Darien. -John Keats, On First Looking into Chapman s Homer INTRODUCTION TO THE ODYSSEY English Mrs. Schwartz CCA

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4 THE ILIAD: PREQUEL TO THE ODYSSEY The Trojan War The judgment of Paris (prince of Troy, in Turkey perhaps (Hera, Athena, Aphrodite), Helen (wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta in Greece. Menelaus gets brother Agamemnon to help get her back (Iphigenia sacrificed; Clytemnestra and Aegistos kill him, Orestes kills them and is haunted by the Furies).

5 CON T:THE ILIAD: PREQUEL TO THE ODYSSEY The Trojan War: There is a standoff for ten years as the Greeks besiege the walled city of Troy. Achilles argues with Agamemnon over war spoils (including concubines, that is, women) Achilles fights Paris s big brother Hector (he killed Achilles best friend), eventually killing him and dragging his body around (the wrath of Achilles), then is convinced to return body. Odysseus has a great idea: The Greeks pretend to leave, some in boats, some in big wooden horse. They get inside, come out at night and sack Troy, utterly destroying it.

6 HOMER (NOT SIMPSON) Blind poet and wanderer, he would be taken in by kings and sing for his supper. Lived between the 8-7 centuries BC. Greek values and concepts: xenia (hospitality) hubris (excessive pride or arrogance)

7 LITERARY TERMS The genre of The Odyssey is Epic: a long narrative poem that tells about the adventures of a hero who reflects the ideals and values of a nation or race. Oral (not written down but recited at banquets, etc. Finally recorded centuries later.) Improvised frequently Epic hero: a larger-than-life figure, usually male, who embodies the ideas of a nation or race. He takes part in long, dangerous adventures and accomplishes great deeds that require courage and superhuman strength. (But Odysseus is also a human, with flaws)

8 CONT D: LITERARY TERMS Epic simile (also known as a Homeric simile) A simile that makes a comparison between two things using like or as, that goes on for several lines of poetry. It s an elaborate, more involved version of a regular simile. Homer uses them for emphasis. And Odysseus let the bright molten tears run down his cheeks, weeping the way a wife mourns for her lord on the lost field where he has gone down fighting the day of wrath that came upon his children. At the sight of the man panting and dying there, she slips down to enfold him, crying out; then feels the spears, prodding her back and shoulders, and goes bound into slavery and grief. Piteous weeping wears away her cheeks: but no more piteous than Odysseus' tears....

9 CONT D 2: LITERARY TERMS Epithet: Remember how epics are often improvised? You would want a bag of tricks you could use if you got stuck. Epithets are brief, descriptive phrases that helped to characterize a particular person or thing, and that had the right meter or number of syllables to fill out a line. The ocean is over and over again the winedark sea and Odysseus is the master mariner. Dactylic hexameter: the type of verse (meter and rhythm)

10 A MAP OF THE ODYSSEY

11 KEY TO MAP OF POSSIBLE ROUTE OF ODYSSEUS GRAPHIC: TIM SEVERIN, THE ULYSSES VOYAGE: SEA SEARCH FOR THE ODYSSEY (LONDON 1987). TEXT: ADAPTED FROM ERICH LESSING, THE VOYAGES OF ULYSSES (VIENNA 1965) AND OTHER SOURCES 1. Troy: After 10 years of siege, the Greek forces capture and destroy the city; then they sail for home with their spoils. Homer's version is told in Iliad. 2. Coast of Thrace: Odysseus and his men destroy and plunder Ismarus, city of the Cicones, but are eventually driven away with losses. 3. Lotus-eaters: Blown off course, Odysseus' fleet lands on shores of North Africa or the island of Jerba, possible locations for the drugged natives. 4. Cyclops: Near Naples are the caves of Mt. Posillipo and the Phlegraean Fields; another possible location for Cyclops is Sicily. 5. Aeolus: Ruler of the Winds, he lives on Stromboli, the Aeolian Island. His gift to Odysseus of a leather pouch, which controls the wild winds, allows the fleet to sail in sight of Ithica, when the crew causes disaster. 6. Laestrygonians: Cape Bonifacio is at the south coast of Corsica, where a race of giants destroy all of the fleet and men except for Odysseus' boat and crew. 7. Circe: This beautiful, sinister goddess lives on the island of Aeaea, now associated with Monte Circeo. With her magic, she enslaves men by turning them into animals. She tells Odysseus that he must enter the Halls of Hades before he can return home. 8. Entrance to the Underworld: Lake Avernus, near Salerno; but Tim Severin interprets the descriptions as resembling locations on the Greek coast. Here Odysseus speaks with the dead and consults the blind prophet Tiresias. 9. Sirens: Isole li Galli in the Gulf of Sorrento are known as the Islands of the Sirens, where Odysseus is tied to the mast of his ship so he can listen to their deadly songs. 10. Scylla & Charybdis: The Straits of Messina contain the narrows where Scylla, monster of the ocean caves, and Charybdis, the whirlpool, challenge passage. 11. Thrinacia: Sicily, island home of the sun-god, Hyperion. Odysseus' remaining crew and boat are destroyed as punishment for killing Hyperion's protected cattle. 12. Calypso: Odysseus is washed up on Calypso's island of Ogygia, present-day Malta. He stays with this tempting goddess 7 years before the Olympian gods relent and let him resume his journey home. 13. Phaecians: Their secluded island, Scheria, is present-day Corfu. These magical sailors escort Odysseus home, after he tells his story. 14. Ithaca: Island home to which Odysseus returns after 20 years away from his faithful wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus. 15. Pylos: Home of King Nestor, with whom Telemachus consults. 16. Sparta: Land of King Menelaus, whose wife, Helen, is at the center of the conflict causing the 10-year war with Troy. 17. Mycenae: Land of Agamemnon, king of the Achaeans, brother of Menelaus. He was a major leader in the war against Troy. 18. Knossos: On present-day Crete, home of legendary King Minos whose vast constructions let to the legend of the Labyrinth.

12 GREEK GODS, GODDESSES, AND OTHER MYTHIC FIGURES Zeus: king and daddy of all the other gods Hera: his sister and wife, often extremely jealous of him (he had LOTS of affairs) Athena: goddess of war and practical wisdom (she was born from Zeus forehead) Hermes: messenger god (wings on his sandals, Nike swoosh!); also commerce and cunning Poseidon: (god of the sea, earthquakes, and horses, often called the earthshaker Helios: the sun god, who pastures his cattle on the island Thirnacia The three sirens: creatures, part woman and part bird, whose songs lure sailors to their death Hades: god of the underworld The nine muses: inspired all forms of art and study The three Moirae (Clotho, Lachesis, Atropus): the fates who weave, measure, and cut the cloth of life Ares: god of war Demeter and Persephone: goddess of the harvest and her daughter, stolen by Hades (reason for seasons) Pan: god of wine, parties, etc. Aphrodite: goddess of love Hephaestus: her husband, god of fire and blacksmiths Scylla: six-headed sea monster who devours sailors Charybdis: dangerous whirlpool personified as a female sea monster Circe: a goddess and enchantress who lives on the island of Aeaea. She turns men into pigs! Calypso: a sea goddess who lives on the island of Ogygia, where Odysseus is kept for seven years Cyclops: one-eyed giant

13 THE OPENING OF HOMER S ODYSSEY TRANSLATED BY ROBERT FITZGERALD Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story of that man skilled in all ways of contending, the wanderer, harried for years on end, after he plundered the stronghold on the proud height of Troy. He saw the townlands and learned the minds of many distant men, and weathered many bitter nights and days in his deep heart at sea, while he fought only to save his life, to bring his shipmates home. But not by will nor valor could he save them, for their own recklessness destroyed them all children and fools, they killed and feasted on the cattle of Lord Helios, the Sun, and he who moves all day through heaven took from their eyes the dawn of their return. epithets Of these adventures, Muse, daughter of Zeus, tell us in our time, lift the great song again. Begin when all the rest who left behind them headlong death in battle or at sea had long ago returned, while he along still hungered for home and wife. Her ladyship Kalypso clung to him in her sea-hollowed caves a nymph, immortal and most beautiful, who craved him for her own. And when long years and seasons wheeling brought around that point of time ordained for him to make his passage homeward, trials and dangers, even so, attended him even in Ithaka, near those he loved. Yet all the gods had pitied Lord Odysseus, all but Poseidon, raging cold and rough against the brave king till he came ashore at last on his own land.