For Thursday: Homer, The Odyssey, Books 16, 17 & 18

NOTE: This is our last reading until after Fall Break, since we'll have Reading Exam #4 on Tuesday. So push on just a little more, and you'll get a nice reading break...unless you want to get ahead (or need to catch up!). 

Answer two of the following...

Q1: Why does Odysseus decide to reveal himself to Telemachus in Book 16, after carefully hiding his identity from everyone else? Is it simply because Athena commands him to (though she earlier said not to show himself to anyone in his family!). Is this a heavenly command, or is he going off script? 

Q2: One of the most touching scenes in the book occurs in Book 17, when Odysseus encounters his old dog, Argus, who has seen better days. The poem spends far more time on this scene than the story might require. Why do you think this is? Why is this episode important, and how might it reflect larger events in the story? 

Q3: These books show the Suitors in much greater relief than we've seen so far in the book. How does the poet condemn their actions in these books, and what, specifically, seems to be their greatest 'sin'? Are they aware of transgressing social laws and the favor of the gods? 

Q4: Odysseus fears disloyalty above all else, and his disguise is largely undertaken to ferret out the true sentiments of his household (kind of like an episode of "Undercover Boss"!). How does he test the various people in his household, including his own wife? What does he want them to say or act to prove virtuous? Does he seem to take into account the context of their situation? 

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?