Homer S the Odyssey

Homer’s The odyssey—Part I

Directions: Answer the following questions in your reading log as assigned. Use complete sentences which incorporate the question. You may not use a HW pass for these questions.

Vocabulary: Review the vocabulary on page 649 of your textbook. Create an original sentence for each word.

Invocation: Lines 1-30

1. Define invocation and muse. What does the poet ask of the muse? 2. List five things that Homer tells you about the hero and what is going to happen to him.

Book 5: Calypso the Sweet Nymph (pages 652-654) 1. What is Hermes’ flight compared to in lines 41-47? What is this literary device called? 2. What do you hears, see, feel and smell in this famous description of Calypso’s home? How does Calypso’s home make even the gods feel? (lines 45-67) 3. What is the great warrior doing when we first see him? What do you think he is thinking about? (lines 77-85) 4. The nymph claims that the idea to free Odyseus is her idea? Why? 5. How does Calypso tempt Odysseus to stay? (lines 104-111) What is his response? 6. Explain the Homeric simile in lines 119-122.

BOOK 9: “I am laertes’ son….” (pages 656-658) 1. How does Odysseus describe himself to Alconous? What impression of Odysseus do you get from this description? (lines 128-129) 2. How did the Odysseus and his men behave toward the Cicones? 3. Odysseus blames his crew for the attack. Is it the crew’s fault or Odysseus”?

Book 9: The lotus eaters (age 658) 1. How do the men treat the Lotus Eaters? Why? 2. What is the result of eating the Lotus plant? 3. Why does Odysseus tie down the three men?

Book 9: the Cyclops (page 660-670) 1. How does Homer make it clear that Odysseus faces a formidable opponent in the Cyclops? (lines 226-233) 2. What does the phrase “fair traffic” mean? What does the Cyclops mean by these questions? 3. What does the Cyclops ask Odysseus in lines 269-270? Why does he ask this? Why does Odysseus lie in reply? 4. Why doesn’t Odysseus choose to kill the Cyclops after he falls asleep (up to line 295)? 5. What is the plan for the Olive tree trunk? 6. Odysseus tells the Cyclops that his name is ______? 7. What is being compared in the Homeric simile found in lines 385-389? 8. Explain the irony in lines 398-408. 9. Do you think it wise for Odysseus to laugh, considering that he and his men are obviously not yet out of danger. 10. What escape plan does Odysseus devise? What does this plan characterize him? 11. What is the irony of the Cyclops statement: “Nohbdy will not get out alive” (line 454). 12. Why are his crewmen’s faces on the ship “shining” when they see the men appear but then “turn to grief?” Why does Odysseus hush his men? (lines 466-469) 13. Why do you think Odysseus shouts to the Cyclops as he is leaving? What is the Cyclops response? (lines 476-489) 14. Why does the crew say to Odysseus when he prepares to shut again at the Cyclops? Why do you think Odysseus doesn’t heed them? (lines 490-501) 15. How might Odysseus revelation of who he is create a problem for him and his men? (lines 501-505) 16. In what way did Polyphemus underestimate his adversary? 17. Do you believe Polyphemus’s promise he makes in lines 517-522? Why or why not? 18. What curse does Polyphemus hurl at Odysseus.

Book 10: the enchantress, circe (pages 673-675) 1. In the summary section, what does the sailors’ opening the bull’s hide bag suggest about their relationship with Odysseus? 2. What comparison does Odysseus make to emphasize the strange gentleness of the wild beasts’ behavior in lines 544-546? 3. All the men go into Circe’s home—except Eurylochus. Why doesn’t he enter? 4. What does Circe do to the men? Did they deserve this? 5. How does Circe violate the law of hospitality? 6. According to the summary section, how does Odysseus resist Circe’s sorcery? 7. How long does he and him men stay with her? 8. Circe tells Odysseus he has to go where and speak to whom?

Book 12: The Sirens, (Pages 678-681—line 763)

1. What happens to those who hear the sound of the Sirens? 2. What does Circe suggest Odysseus do if he wants to hear the Sirens? 3. Do you think he will take the risk of listening to the Sirens’ song? Why or why not? 4. What is the next peril Odysseus will face (if he survives the Sirens) that lies between two headlands? 5. People sometimes use the expression, “I am caught between Scylla and Charybdis.” What might that mean? 6. List these three dangers: the Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis, in order from least to most severe and explain why you ranked them this way. (Honors students should write a full paragraph.) 7. Odysseus tells his man of the warnings Circe gave of the sirens because “then we die with our eyes open.” Do you agree with his philosophy? 8. Summarize what happens when Odysseus and his crew face the Sirens.

SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS (book 12; LINES 763-683)

1. When Oysseus’s men see “smoke and white water” and are terrified, what does Odysseus do to inspire them? 2. What god does Odysseus call on for help? 3. Why doesn’t Odysseus tell the men his plan as they near Scylla and Charybdis? 4. Consider your answers for questions 1 and 3. What does this say about his leadership? 5. Odysseus recounts how “Circe’s bedding against arms” (i.e. weapons) had slipped his mind. What does this say about his self-image? 6. List three words or phrases (lines 805-816) that help you visualize the whirlpool Charybdis. 7. What is being compared in lines 822-827? What is this literary device called? 8. Do you agree that seeing Charybdis eat his men was a sight “far the worst I ever suffered” since the beginning of his journey in The Odyssey. 9. How many of the monsters or threats to Odysseus in the first part of the epic are female? What do you think of the way women are portrayed so far? 10. From what you have observed of Odysseus, how would you describe what the Greeks valued in a hero? Do we value these same traits today? (Honors Students answer in a well-developed paragraph.)