For Tuesday: Homer, The Odyssey, Books 11, 12 & 13

We're going to read a few more books of The Odyssey this week, before taking our next Reading Exam the following Tuesday. Then you'll have Fall Break to look forward to, and can forget, briefly, all about the world of Odysseus and his epic quest. ALSO, I'll be giving you your FIRST PAPER ASSIGNMENT soon! It won't be due until after break, but I want you to have it next week so you can start thinking about it (or heck, you can even write it over the break! What else would you have to do??) 

Answer two of the following:

Q1: Eurylochus is one of the few members of Odysseus’ crew given a name, and he consistent pops up in several of the books. What role does he play in the poem, especially considering Odysseus is telling this story himself? Why does he give Eurylochus such a prominent position?

Q2: When Athena encounters Odysseus in Ithaca (Book 13), he assumes a fake identity and tells a ridiculous story of killing someone and having to steal off to Ithaca to avoid revenge. Athena listens to this and responds, "You wily bastard,/You cunning, elusive, habitual liar!/Even in your own land you weren’t about/To give up the stories and sly deceits/That are so much a part of you” (136). Is Athena praising or critiquing him here? Would you consider his disguise an act of humor, or hubris? 

Q3: In Book 11, Odysseus meets several of his dead comrades in Hades, notably people like Achilles and Agamemnon (the heroes of The Iliad). What do you feel is most significant about these interactions? What lesson to the dead have to teach him?

Q4: Over and over again, Odysseus blames the problems of his crew on the gods: “I knew then that some god had it in for us” (123). Yet remember that Zeus says in Book 1 that “Mortals! They are always blaming the gods/For their troubles, when their own witlessness/Cause them more than they were destined for!” (2). Based on Odysseus’ story in Books 9-12, who was the cause of the crews’ greatest suffering: the gods, or the men themselves? Or is Odysseus, himself, the root cause of all their suffering?

For Thursday: Homer, The Odyssey, Books 9 & 10

NOTE: Since I goofed and posted the wrong questions for Tuesday's class, I went ahead and gave everyone extra time (until Thursday) to turn in today's questions. With that in mind, I'm also going to change the schedule a little: instead of doing the Reading Exam #3 in class on Thursday (as per the syllabus), we're going to read two more short books (9 and 10) and I'll give you just one question below, which will be like a 'take home' Reading Exam. 

Answer this question for Thursday's class...

Q1: Based on the events of Books 9 and 10, do you consider Odysseus a hero? If so, what kind of hero is he? What makes him 'heroic'? Is he basically an ancient version of a modern-day superhero like Batman or Thor? And if not, what makes him miss the mark? Does he lack morality? Nobility? Vision? 

For Tuesday: Homer, The Odyssey, Books 5. 6 & 8

The handout I gave you in class on Wednesday is pasted in the questions below, in case you lost your copy (or left it behind in class!). It might prove useful in future discussions or exams/assignments! 

NOTE: The questions 2 & 3 I posted on Friday were accidental--they go to later books of The Odyssey. I posted new questions for these books, so because I goofed, you can have extra time to answer the questions. 

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Calypso is yet another "evil woman" in ancient literature, though Homer offers a much more nuanced portrait of her motives. How does she respond to the gods’ requests to relinquish her hold on Odysseus? Why might Sappho have agreed with (or even written herself!) her rebuttal speech to Hermes?

New Q2: The poem is full of "bonus material," including little songs (placed in italics in the book) and songs from professional bards/poets, such as the story about Ares and Aphrodite in Book 8. Why do you think Homer includes these little asides, which have nothing to do with the plot itself? How does it enrich our reading of the story? 

New Q3: In these books, it seems that every woman whether mortal or immortal is desperate to help Odysseus escape an evil fate. Circe, Nausicaa, Athena, and Ino (a water goddess) all line up to help him make it to safety in the land of the Phaecians. But Odysseus, rather than thanking them, seems to think they're all plotting against him, as he remarks of Ino, "Not this. Not another treacherous god/Scheming against me" (40)? Why do you think this is? Why doesn't he realize the goddesses are in his corner? 

Q4: Since The Odyssey was originally an oral poem, we get a lot of repetition (which would help the poem memorize such an epic work). What are some of the repetitions of phrases or scenes that continually reappear in the work? Besides as an aid to memorization, why do you think the poem includes these echoes? How might they also help readers of such a long and complex work?

The Odyssey: Translating “Polytropos” (many turns/twists)

“Andra, the first word in The Odyssey, announces a poem about a ‘man,’ and in some ways, this is story about Man without exception. The protagonist’s quest for knowledge, his travels, his suffering, and his determination to return to his wife and child are all themes of universal significance: the Odyssey, like The Iliad, seeks to define what it means to be human. But the Odyssey is also the story of one, very specific, and very puzzling man. It is difficult to know what to make of him, or even pinpoint his identity: as the poem builds up, line after line, we are given several details about its protagonist, but we are never told his name. That we are dealing with an Odyssey, a ‘poem about Odysseus,’ is therefore something we have to work out for ourselves as we listen to the poet” (Graziosi, Homer).

FIVE TRANSLATIONS OF THE OPENING LINES

(1) “Speak, memory—of the cunning hero,

The wanderer, blown off course time and again

After he plundered Troy’s sacred heights” (Stanley Lombardo)

(2) “Tell me, Muse, the story of that resourceful man who was driven to wander far and wide after he had sacked the holy citadel of Troy.” (E.V. Rieu)

(3) “Tell me about a complicated man.

Muse, tell me how he wandered and was lost

when he had wrecked the holy town of Troy.” (Emily Wilson)

(4) “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” (Robert Fagles)

 

(5) “The man for wisdom's various arts renown'd,
Long exercised in woes, O Muse! resound;
Who, when his arms had wrought the destined fall
Of sacred Troy, and razed her heaven-built wall” (Alexander Pope)

For Thursday: Homer, The Odyssey, Books 1 & 4

NOTE: The version of The Odyssey I ordered the class is condensed, so some of the books have been taken out. Therefore, if you have a different edition, you don't have to read books (chapters) 2 & 3. We're just reading Books 1 and 4. The questions below are ONLY for those chapters/books. 

Answer TWO of the following questions: 

Q1: Why does Athena disguise herself as an old man and approach Odysseus' son, Telemachus, in Book 1? What is she worried about, and what does she want him to do? Does he know who she really is (or rather, do we know that he knows)? 

Q2: At the beginning of the work, Zeus complains that "Mortals!...are always blaming the gods/For their troubles, when their own witlessness.Causes them more than they were destined for!" (2). From what you've read of the Greek myths so far, is this true? Are the gods blameless in victories and tragedies of humans, such as the Trojan War? Why do you think Homer has Zeus proclaim this, especially if it's not technically true?

Q3: Book 4 is fascinating in that it imagines Helen of Troy living back with her husband, Menelaus, after the Trojan War. How does the poem depict Helen at this stage of her life? Does this sound like the same woman who ran away from her husband and family in pursuit of love? Who started a war? Or is this closer to the way Sappho might have seen her? Why or why not?

Q4: Even though this is an epic poem, which tells a unified story, and not a series of love poems like Sappho's, why might Homer's work remind you of Sappho? What poem of Sappho's might fit into this work rather well and why? In other words, do you think Sappho might have been inspired by The Odyssey, or had a hand in writing it?

For Tuesday: Hamilton, Mythology, "The Trojan War" & "The Fall of Troy" (pp.253-290)

NOTE: If you missed class on Thursday, it's your responsibility to make up the Reading Exam #2 with me--so please reach out. Otherwise, you'll lose 5 pts on your final grade. 

For next week, we're going back briefly to Hamilton's Mythology to read about The Trojan War and its aftermath. This will serve as an introduction to starting Homer's The Odyssey on Thursday. I'll also introduce this work a little bit on Tuesday as well, so it doesn't take you completely by surprise. 

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Before reaching Troy, Agamemnon, the commander of the Greek armies, has to sacrifice his eldest daughter to appease the goddess Artemis. To most fathers then and now, this would be unthinkable and impossible to obey. And yet, Agamemnon goes through with it and the Greeks reach Troy. How might Sappho (or one of her poems) explain why a father would be able to kill his daughter merely for the sake of a war? 

Q2: From what you read in "The Trojan War" chapter, would you consider Achilles a hero in the traditional sense? What makes him heroic--or not? And why is the entire story really about him, even though he's not the commander of the Greeks or even the most important soldier? Why, for instance, isn't it more about Agamemnon, Paris or Hector? 

Q3: Odysseus, the hero of The Odyssey, is the most clever of all the Greeks, and it is he who comes up with the idea of the Trojan Horse. What makes this such a clever trick, and why do the Trojans agree to take it inside the city gates? Wouldn't they distrust any gift from the opposing army?

Q4: The story of the Trojan War seems to rehearse an age-old argument about fate vs. free will. Do you think anyone acts of their own free will in this story, or is it all the work of the gods? For example, does Helen choose to run away with Paris, or is she forced to? Does Achilles choose to give Hector's body back to his father, or do the gods demand it? Does Ajax kill himself out of shame, or is this again the hand of the gods? How should we read this story since the gods are so involved from the beginning to the end? 

For Tuesday: Sappho, Stung With Love, "Maidens and Marriages" & "The Wisdom of Sappho"

Remember that we'll have our Reading Exam #2 over Sappho on Thursday, so be sure to bring your book with you! For now, there's one more set of questions, and this time, only ONE question. 

Q1: Pick any two or three poems from this reading (they can be on very different pages, or on the same page) and explain why they might actually be from the same poem. That is, each poem completes the other one. Why do you think they belong together? How does each one share the same 'voice' and meaning? How does one expand and develop the other one? And how do they both make sense of each other? 

For Thursday: Sappho, Stung With Love, "Her Girls and Family" & "Troy"

Read the next two sections for Thursday's class, and remember (or try to remember) to do the following as you read:

1. Read some of the poems out loud, just to hear the 'music' of the poems...what sounds strike you as interesting of even beautiful? What calls attention to itself? 

2. Read the metaphors and imagery: think about why the poet is trying to make us see one things in terms of another (for example, the "ears all thunder" from last class...how can ears be thunder? What is she trying to convey?). This is more important than simply trying to get the 'point' or the 'message' of a poem, of which there is always more than one.

3. Try to figure out what kind of person is speaking, and to whom. Is it a mother to her daughter? A woman to her lover? Sappho to a goddess? Etc. Who else is in the "room" and how might this shape the poem?

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Many of the poems in "Her Girls and Family" concern the perspective of a mother or a wife in the ancient world. What ideas or sentiments can we relate to? What sounds like something your own mother might have told you? 

Q2: Likewise, many of these poems seem to be about jealousy and lost love, with the speaker addressing someone who has moved on from the relationship. How do the poems characterize these break-ups? Were they mutual? Bitter? Messy? Discuss a poem that seems to illustrate your answer.

Q3: The poem on page 59 which begins "Some call ships..." is one of her most famous poems. In this poem, she invokes the famous Helen of Troy, the woman who (thanks to Aphrodite) started the Trojan War. Does Sappho seem to be blaming Helen for her weakness or sympathizing with her? Why might Helen be the perfect person for Sappho to compare herself to in this poem?

Q4: Which fragment seems to you confusing and almost impossible to understand? Do you think it's because the poem is too incomplete, or are the references/images too obscure? Can you making any guesses as to what the poem might be referring to? 

For Tuesday: Sappho, Stung With Love: Poems and Fragments, pp.5-29

For Tuesday, read the poems on pages 5-29 of our book, Stung With Love, the complete poems of Sappho. These poems can be tricky to read since almost none of them are complete: most have been damaged, lost, or destroyed (more on that in class on Tuesday). Only ONE complete poem is in this book, the famous one on page 9, where she talks directly to Aphrodite. 

So when you read these poems, try to imagine the missing context or situation behind the words, and also consider what gods, myths, or stories she might be invoking in her words. Don't worry if a poem doesn't make sense to you; do your best as you read and move on to the next one, and use the questions to help you.

ALSO: Sappho was from the island of Lesbos, which was famous for poets and musicians. Later on, the adjective "Lesbian" came to mean a same sex relationship between women, but back then it did not mean this. When she talks about a "Lesbian musician" on page 17, she merely means a famous one. We'll talk more about why the meaning changed over time. 

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: In her one complete poem on page 9, what kind of relationship does the speaker seem to have with Aphrodite. Does she worship her blindly? Fear her? Act suspicious of her? Are they old friends? Similarly, how does Aphrodite seem to address her in the poem? How does she see the poet?

Q2: Most of these poems are about love or love relationships, even though it's hard to read the entire context. But according to what we have, how does Sappho write about love? Is it similarly dangerous and tragic like the stories we read last week? Is something to be sought--or to be avoided?

Q3: Which poem or poems seems to invoke Greek myths and stories? How does knowing a little bit about them help you read or understand her poem? 

Q4: Discuss a poem that seems to be missing too much context to make sense. What do you think might be missing? What clues do we have in the poem itself? What makes it interesting even as an incomplete scrap of a poem?