CL2346 HOMER (IN T RANSLATION )

What you need to buy

• Iliad, translated by Richmond Lattimore (University of Chicago Press, £11.50 new; also online at
Chicago Homer, http://homer.library.northwestern.edu – to turn off the Greek click Options
and set your preferences, then click Browse to return to the text and re-click Retrieve). You don’t
need to have the revised (2011) edition, though the new introduction and notes by Richard
Martin are good; the actual translation is unchanged.
• Odyssey, translated by Walter Shewring (Oxford World’s Classics, £7.99 new; also on Kindle)
These are the only books you need to buy. The course provides its own mausoleum-sized exclusive
companions to both poems in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats, each comprising a detailed book-by-
book outline and full literary commentary; advance roughcut versions of these are available on
request from NJL.

What you need to do with it

This is a deep-drill course. You’ll read all the way through both epics at least four times, each time
with a different accompanying guide provided. Here’s how it works:
Over the vacation: read or re-read the Iliad straight through with the + Reading the Epics
“Reading the Epics” notes on each book. Do the same for the Odyssey over (included below)
Christmas. You don’t need to use the prescribed translations for this pass if
you already have a favourite version – but you do for the subsequent
readings, which I’m including here so you can see how it plays out.
Before each lecture: re-read the two or three books scheduled for that lecture + outline
with the detailed outline included with the companion volume.
In the lecture: we’ll go through the outline and complete text of those books + lecture
with live commentary. You’re not expected to take any notes during these
lectures (unless you really want to); as with the Greek Literature lectures
this year, I’ve put everything I’ll be saying into the accompanying notes,
which can be read with or without the text at leisure. You’re not expected to
read the commentary as preparation for the lecture; you’re welcome to if
you want to, but it’s more important to know your way around the text and
the questions about it.
After the lecture: read back through the text at leisure in your own time with + commentary
the commentary on those books. The commentary is designed to be readable
either alongside or independently.

Some other useful reading (entirely optional)

commentaries
Malcolm M. Willcock, A Companion to the Iliad (1975)
Peter V. Jones, Homer’s Iliad: A Commentary (2003)
Peter V. Jones, Homer’s Odyssey: A Companion (1989)
Irene J.F. de Jong, A Narratological Commentary on the Odyssey (2001)
collections of articles
Irene J.F. de Jong (ed.), Homer: Critical Assessments (4 vols, 1999)
Robert L. Fowler (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Homer (2004)
Douglas L. Cairns (ed.), Oxford Readings in Homer’s Iliad (2001)
general books
Michael Silk, The Iliad (1987)
Mark Edwards, Homer: Poet of the Iliad (1987)
Jasper Griffin, Homer on Life and Death (1980)
Jasper Griffin, Homer: The Odyssey (1987)
Joachim Latacz, Troy and Homer (2004)
 READING THE EPICS
Here are some questions you might want to be thinking about as you work through the Iliad and
Odyssey. Few of them admit of straightforward or definitive answers, but I hope you’ll find they
help to focus your reading and sharpen your appreciation of the text. It’s particularly valuable to
familiarise yourself with what happens in which book, and to this end I’ve included the “chapter
titles” made up for each book in Rieu’s old Penguin translations. (Fagles’, Shewring’s, Hammond’s
and Wilson’s newer and better translations each have their own sets of titles, but I slightly prefer
the ones given here.)

READING THE ILIAD

Book 1: The Quarrel

What do the opening lines tell us about the themes of the poem (and is there anything you might
expect them to say that they don’t?)? What is at stake for Agamemnon in Chryses’ supplication,
and why does he reject it? What does the assembly scene tell us about each of the characters it
introduces? The 13 main speeches make this one of the longest exchanges in Homer: what does each
individual speech contribute to its overall development? What are the turning-points? What are
the key issues in the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon, and could it have been avoided?
What does Achilles’ scene with his mother contribute to our sense of his character? What do we
learn about the nature and personality of the gods from the Olympian scene that closes the book,
and how does it use parallels and contrasts with the mortal action that has preceded?

Book 2: The Forces are Displayed

Achilles now disappears from the poem for seven books: why? What functions are served by the
episode of Agamemnon’s false dream and backfiring bluff, and why do they come at this point in
the poem? What does the book do to give a sense of (a) the history of the war as a whole (b) the
masses of the army? What do the similes contribute, and why are there so many? Does the
Catalogue of Ships serve any poetic purpose here? What contrasts do we notice between the Greek
and Trojan armies?

Book 3: A Truce and a Duel

Why does the duel between Menelaus and Paris come here, and what do we learn about their
characters? What is striking about the way Helen is presented, and what purpose is served by her
scene on the walls with Priam? Pay close attention to the terms of the truce: how does the duel’s
actual outcome fit with this? How do the pacing and choice of detail contribute to the dramatic
effect of the duel itself? What is striking about the final scenes between Helen and (i) Aphrodite
(ii) Paris?

Book 4: Pandarus Breaks the Truce

Why is there an Olympian scene at this point, and how does it advance (a) the plot (b) our
understanding of the gods involved? What is impressive about the way the episode of Menelaus’
wounding is told, and why is it so significant? What does Agamemnon’s tour of the army contribute
at this point, and what do we learn about the characters involved? What does the narrative do to
sustain variety and drama in the first scenes of fighting?

Book 5: Diomedes Fights the Gods

Why is the spotlight now cast on a single warrior, and why Diomedes? What particular touches of
colour and pathos are contributed by the details of each individual kill, and how (both here and
elsewhere) does the poem prevent this sort of sequence becoming shapeless and monotonous? What
are the key points, and what do they contribute to the overall movement? Why are Aeneas and
Sarpedon brought in here, and what is special about each? How are Aphrodite and Ares depicted,
and why does the poem allow their wounding here? Keep an eye on the links between individual
episodes in the second half of the book, and the stages by which it builds to its divine crescendo.

Book 6: Hector and Andromache

How do the different narrative strands in this book intertwine? What is the tone of the
Diomedes/Glaucus encounter, and what function (if any) does the Bellerophon story serve? What do
we learn about Hector and his city from his successive encounters with Hecuba, Helen, and
Andromache, and what contrasts are drawn in the characters of the three heroines? What does the
famous exchange between Hector and Andromache tell us about the pressures and obligations upon
him, and the values by which he lives? How would you characterise his relationship with Paris?

Book 7: Ajax Fights Hector

In what ways is this book important to the overall structure of the poem? Why is there another
formal duel here, what are the significant parallels and contrasts with that in Book 3, and why
this particular choice of duellists? How do the preliminaries build up the tension, and what do we
expect to be the outcome? How do the councils, truce, negotiations, and funerals fit into the threads
of the plot so far? Why is Nestor’s wall seen as so important?

Book 8: The Trojans Reach the Wall

In what ways does this book mark a turning-point? Why does Zeus lay this condition on the gods at
this point in the poem? How does the narrative convey a sense of the tide of battle turning, and
what is significant about the way Hector reacts? What do the Olympian scenes contribute, and
what is new about the situation at the end of the book? What expectations does it raise for the
coming day?

Book 9: Overtures to Achilles

What parallels and contrasts does the Greek council evoke with earlier scenes (both recent and
more distant)? Why does Nestor handle things the way he does, and why does he pick these
particular three spokesmen? How do their three speeches to Achilles contrast in the means they use
to attempt the same end, and how do Achilles’ replies to each significantly contrast? His reply to
Odysseus is often seen as the most important speech in the poem: why does he refuse Agamemnon’s
terms? Is he right to? Does his position make coherent sense? Is it compatible with a “heroic code”
(if there is such a thing)? What crucial new information do we learn about Achilles’ background
and motivation? What does Phoenix’s use of the Meleager story contribute to our sense of events to
come? What does Odysseus significantly edit out in reporting Agamemnon’s speech to Achilles and
vice-versa?

Book 10: Night Interlude

There is an old tradition that this episode was a late addition to the text of the Iliad: do you see
signs of this? could it have been inserted just anywhere? what would be lost if it were cut? Are the
Menelaus and Nestor scenes just padding, or do they serve a purpose? What significant parallels
and contrasts are developed between the Greek and Trojan councils? How are the unusual setting and
tactics exploited for dramatic effect? How does the narrative modulate between different moods,
and how would you describe the overall tone of the episode?

Book 11: Achilles Takes Notice

Why does the poem choose this point to spotlight Agamemnon as warrior, and how does the series
of his kills avoid monotony? Three key Greek fighters are wounded in this book: how does the
narrative build up to each, and how does it avoid repetitiousness? Why is Ajax the one left in play?
The Achilles scene initiates a long and careful series of scenes in camp extending over the next few
books: keep a close eye on how this strand develops, and on what it reveals about the character of
Patroclus. How does Nestor’s long reminiscence help the purpose of his speech, and what does the
Eurypylus scene contribute to the plotting?

Book 12: Hector Storms the Wall

Why the renewed emphasis on the Greek fortifications here, and why the curious flashforward at
the start of the book? The narrative now splits into five or six strands: how successfully does the
poem juggle this complex tangle of storylines? How do the Hector/Polydamas scenes contribute to
our sense of Hector’s character and the future direction of events? What does the Glaucus/Sarpedon
exchange have to say about heroic values? How does the book retain a sense of shape and direction
as it moves towards its climactic breakthrough?

Book 13: The Battle at the Ships

How does the poem now exploit the tension of the Trojan assault, and why is Poseidon now brought
in? What function, if any, does the Idomeneus/Meriones conversation serve, and what special use is
made of each in the montage of fighting scenes that follows? How is that montage organised, and
does it succeed in keeping a sense of structure and direction? How does the Polydamas scene here
advance the sequence already established?

Book 14: Zeus Outmanoeuvred

How does the conversation of the cripped Greeks extend their characterisations established so far,
and has it any impact on the plot? Why does the long episode of Hera’s beguilement of Zeus come at
this point, and how does it extend our picture of the gods and their natures? How would you sum up
the tone of the episode, and what touches contribute especially to that effect? What does the
battle narrative that follows do to reflect the changed situation on earth?

Book 15: The Achaeans at Bay

In what ways do the opening scenes among the gods mark a turning-point, and what do Zeus’s
dealings with Hera and Poseidon tell us about the nature of his authority? What new information
does he give about the course of events to come, and why does he give it now? What expectations are
raised with Hector’s return to battle, and how does the narrative of his advance on the ships
exploit the new crisis? How does the Patroclus scene fit into the sequence?

Book 16: Patroclus Fights and Dies

How, if at all, does Achilles’ assessment of his situation and options here differ from that in Book
9? How does the narrative bring together the scenes at the ships and at Achilles’ compound, and
how do the preparations for battle build tension and foreshadow the outcome? What does the
narrative do to convey a sense of the impact of Patroclus’ entry to the fighting? How and where is
his death foreshadowed in what followed, and to what effect? How does the Sarpedon episode
build on what we have seen of him so far, and in what ways does it represent a climax in the plot so
far? What does it reveal about the nature and limits of Zeus’s authority, and his relationship with
the forces of fate? Why is Sarpedon’s corpse so important to the plot? How does the narrative of
Patroclus’ final surge develop the intimations of impending doom? What is particularly effective
about the narrative of his death, and how does the final exchange with Hector (a) deepen the
emotional resonance of the scene (b) advance our anticipation of the sequel?

Book 17: The Struggle over Patroclus

Is this the immediate sequel we expected to the events of 16? What is effective about it? How does
the battle-narrative exploit the special significance of the two corpses as a focus for the fighting,
and how does the struggle advance the overall plot? What does the narrative do to try and impose
a sense of coherence and shape on this more than usually confused and unpredictable section of the
fighting?
Book 18: Armour for Achilles

How does the scene with Thetis build on its predecessor in Book 1, and what new information do we
learn about the terms of Achilles’ destiny, the options he faces, and the course of events to come?
What does the Hector/Polydamas scene contribute? How would you summarise the effect of the
interlude on Olympus, and what is the function of the extended description of the shield? Is there a
principle and/or pattern to the choice of images? What is striking about the way they are
described?

Book 19: The Feud is Ended

How do the speeches of Achilles and Agamemnon lay the feud to rest? Do they deal with the real
issues, or have those simply receded in importance? What concessions, if any, are made, and what
is interesting about what each does and does not say? What is the effect of Agamemnon’s long
excursus on Delusion? Why is so much space given to the issue of supper? Why is Briseis’ brief scene
so effective? What is the point of the strange final scene?

Book 20: The Gods Go to War

Why are the gods sent down to the battlefield at this point, and what is interesting about the way
they involve themselves? How does the Achilles/Aeneas encounter build on the characters of both,
and what is the point of Aeneas’ digression on his ancestry? What special touches throughout the
book help to evoke the unprecedented violence of Achilles’ surge?

Book 21: Achilles Fights the River

What is especially powerful about the Lycaon episode? What is the point of the strange scenes
with the river, and what does the narrative do to make this bizarre flight of fancy seem credible
and effective? What purpose, if any, is served by the series of divine faceoffs that follow, and how
does the sequence exploit telling contrasts between the five successive combats? What is the
function of the Agenor episode at the end of the book, and in what ways is the ground being laid for
the showdown with Hector?

Book 22: The Death of Hector

Why does the poem switch to a Trojan vantage at this point, and how does it build on the Trojan
scenes in 3 and 6? Why does Hector reject the appeals of Priam and Hecuba, and what dimensions to
his character are newly highlighted here? What is particularly effective in the narrative of
Achilles’ pursuit of Hector, and what does the behaviour of the gods contribute to our sympathies?
What issues are raised by the exchange of speeches before the combat, and by Hector’s soliloquy
before his death? What does the death-scene exchange do to foreshadow the events of Book 24 and
beyond? What do the Trojan scenes add to this? What does the Andromache scene do to develop its
emotional impact to the full?

Book 23: The Funeral and the Games

What does the scene with Patroclus’ ghost contribute to our sense of what is resolved and
unresolved, and what touches especially bring out its pathos? How does the narrative of the
funeral develop the dramatic and emotional opportunities in the occasion? Why does the poem give
so much space here to the games? How do the events build on the characterisations already
established, and where did we last see each of these heroes in action? What parallels and
contrasts are developed between the activities of war and athletics? How do Achilles’ decisions as
judge bring out his qualities as a leader? Is the plot of the poem advanced in any way by all this?

Book 24: Priam and Achilles

What episodes and sequences in this book seem to echo Book 1, and to what effect? How do the
Olympian and Trojan scenes prepare us for what is coming, and how do the latter build on what we
have previously seen of Priam and Hecuba? Why is the encounter with Hermes drawn out to such
length, and what emerges from it? How does Priam’s speech of supplication to Achilles target the
right emotional nerves, and what exactly is Achilles saying in his first reply? What issues are
stressed in the followup exchange? What emotions and tensions are brought out in the banquet scene,
and what does the Niobe story contribute? What is going on between the lines of the bedtime
conversation? How do the laments of Andromache, Hecuba, and Helen complement one another and
build on their earlier presentation (especially in 6); what aspects of Hector’s character are brought
out by each; and why is Helen given the last word? After the closing line of the poem, what do we
know is going to happen (a) now (b) soon (c) eventually, and how does it affect the way we respond
to this close?

READING THE ODYSSEY

Book 1: Athene Visits Telemachus

What do we learn from this first book about (a) the story ahead; (b) the rules by which it’s going to
be played? How do the introductory scenes help to define the world of the story, and what details
would be alien to the Iliad? Equally important, what does the poet leave open at this stage? What
is said between the lines of the dialogue between Telemachus and (a) Athene (b) Penelope (c) the
suitors, and how is it signalled to us? Can we be sure it’s there? It’s generally felt Telemachus
“develops” during his adventures: but is this perhaps too modern an idea? How would you trace it in
the text? Keep an eye on: the wrath of Poseidon; the Orestes saga; hospitality scenes; developments
in Telemachus’ speech and behaviour; and above all, confirmation and demonstration of the moral
rules outlined in this book.

Book 2: The Debate in Ithaca

Why is this assembly scene here? What would be lost if it were cut? Does it fill any long-term
function? What do we learn about the political structure of Ithaca? Why is the uncertainty over
Odysseus’ fate such a problem? What ought to happen over Penelope, and why isn’t it happening?
What exactly is the suitors’ crime? How does the differentiation of the individual suitors extend
the characterisations in Book 1? Look carefully at the nine speeches. Do you see signs of a
deliberate sequence and progression? Once again, what’s being said between the lines in each case?
What do the post-assembly scenes contribute, and how do they gain from being read after Book 1?

Book 3: Nestor

What contrasts strike us between Pylos and Ithaca, and how does the poet exploit Telemachus’
reaction? Why is the scene a sacrifice to Poseidon, and what does the elaborate ritual detail
contribute? In the Iliad, Nestor’s seemingly irrelevant ramblings generally convey some shrewd and
highly-relevant under-meaning; in what ways do the apparent digressions here serve this purpose?
More generally, what details in this book and the next gain in significance if we assume the poet
expects familiarity with the Iliad? What kinds of contrast with, and comment upon,the Iliad can
we detect? Do we need this book and 4? What would be lost if one were cut? Is 3 in any way a
necessary preliminary to 4?

Book 4: Menelaus and Helen

In what ways is Sparta different from Pylos? Again, what implicit reflections on Ithaca do we see?
How, again, does the book seem to gain if knowledge of the Iliad is assumed? What kind of picture
is emerging of the aftermath of the war and its legacy (a) for the survivors (b) for the postwar
world? What are we to make of Helen’s personality, and her attitudes to (a) Menelaus (b) the past
(c) herself? What touches recall her characterisation in the Iliad? What on earth is going on
between her and Menelaus at 235-89? What elements in Menelaus’ narrative anticipate Odysseus’
in 9-12, and how does this passage prepare the ground? This is the third time the Agamemnon story
has been told; why are we still interested? Why are the Ithacan scenes that close the book needed
here? What would be lost if we cut straight to 5?
Book 5: Calypso

Why is this second council needed, and how does it build on what we have seen and learned in 1-4?
What new information about the story do we learn, and why now? Equally, what are we left not
knowing, but waiting to find out? What purpose does the famous description of Calypso’s cave
serve? What’s going on between the lines in the Hermes-Calypso scene, and what do we learn about
the mind of Odysseus from it? Why doesn’t she tell Odysseus about this conversation? What is
going on beneath the dialogue between the two of them? How is drama sustained in the storm
narrative? Why are there so many soliloquies and similes in this book and the next? What do each
of the similes contribute beyond their explicit point of contact with the situation? What does the
use of Poseidon here contribute to his role in the poem as a whole? Why does he leave off? What do
we expect to happen next?

Book 6: Nausicaa

By what stages does the poet gradually reveal the relevance of the Nausicaa scenes? What
details, casually introduced here, serve crucial plot functions? Why does Athene intervene and exit
at the points she does in this and subsequent books? What do we learn about Nausicaa’s character in
the scenes with Athene and Alcinous, and how is it built on later? What’s the tone of Odysseus’
first speech on waking, and of the ensuing lion simile? What is characteristically Odyssean about
his choices of action? What does he guess about Nausicaa from his first glance, and how does he
exploit it in his speech? What messages does he manage to convey between the lines? What does
Nausicaa convey between the lines of her answer? How is it developed in the following scene?
What do we learn in this book about Phaeacian culture, and its place in the world of the poem?
Why does the poet bring Odysseus here at all, rather than straight back to Ithaca?

Book 7: The Palace of Alcinous

What does the encounter with Athene add? (As usual, what would be lost if it were cut?) What
purpose does the extended description of the palace and gardens serve? Why is the whole
supplication episode spun out to such length? What does Odysseus leave out of his story to Alcinous,
and why? What role does Arete play, after all this buildup, and why is it played by her rather
than her husband? How does Odysseus’ version of book 5 differ from the poet’s, and why?

Book 8: The Phaeacian Games

How does this book bring out Odysseus’ past? What light does it shed on our unfolding picture of
Phaeacian culture, and why is Odysseus out of place in it? What function, in particular, does the
athletic contest serve? How does the book exploit our acquaintance with (a) books 1-4 (b) the Iliad?
Why is there so much feasting in the Phaeacian books? What purpose does Demodocus’ second song,
the tale of Ares and Aphrodite, serve? Has it any wider significance for the themes of the poem?
Why is it placed here? Why does Odysseus weep at the Trojan Horse song (and what light does the
simile shed)? What’s the tone of Alcinous’ speech in response, and is there some Nestorian purpose
behind his apparent rambling?

Book 9: The Cyclops

What general themes of the poem are marshalled in Odysseus’ introduction to his tale? Why
doesn’t he ever mention Penelope? The book has the usual pattern of two short episodes followed by
a long one; are the three patterned and/or connected in any way? More generally, do the ten
episodes that make up Odysseus’ tale in 9-12 follow a purposeful sequence? Could they be
rearranged without making a difference? Is there a reason why these particular four (one per book)
are singled out for extended treatment? How does the poem contrive to integrate the fantasy world
of these books with the rational world of the rest of the poem? Why is the Cicones episode placed
first? What’s special about it, and what more general themes does it demonstrate? Similarly,
what’s significant in the Lotus-Eaters episode for the pattern of events in subsequent books? The
Cyclops episode has been more foreshadowed than any other; why? What makes it so special?
Why is so much introduction spent on details of Cyclops culture, and what function do the
individual details serve (a) thematically (b) in the plot? How does the narrative build tension and
drama out of such leisurely actions? How does the poet exploit his narrator’s hindsight? How do
the scene-setting details of the Cyclops’ cave function in plot and themes? What is going on between
the lines of Odysseus’ first exchange with the Cyclops? How does Odysseus’ stratagem exploit
previously-seeded details? How are the moral conclusions demonstrated? Exactly what is
Odysseus’ mistake in the final scene? Is it his first? Does he learn from it?

Book 10: Circe

What themes are played out by the Aeolus episode? Why is the Laestrygonians episode needed,
especially after the Cyclops? Why, given that eleven times as many comrades are killed as in any
other episode, isn’t it given more prominence? How does the Circe episode exploit the emerging
tensions between Odysseus and his crew? What dramatic tricks are played with narrative point of
view in the first phase, before Odysseus intervenes? Why is Hermes’ help needed? (And why
him?) Is Circe’s behaviour psychologically intelligible? Why do they stay so long with her? Why
does the underworld episode require such elaborate setting-up? Why, in fact, is the whole Tiresias
business really needed?

Book 11: The Book of the Dead

Have the individual underworld encounters a coherent overall pattern? (Could any be cut or
reordered without loss?) Is the Elpenor episode just a gimmick, or is there a deeper point? What
does Teiresias reveal that Odysseus needs to know, and why the bizarre sequel with the
winnowing-fan? What does he learn from Anticleia (and why has Laertes been left alive)? Has the
catalogue of heroines any justification here? Does it serve a purpose? Are there signs of pattern,
order, and structure, or is it just a ragbag? Why does Odysseus break off his narrative, and why here
of all places? How does the way Agamemnon’s story is told to Odysseus differ from other versions,
and what special implications is it given here? What does the Achilles scene say about heroic
values, and in what ways does it seem to pass comment on the world and story of the Iliad? Why is
the Ajax scene chosen to end the sequence? Do the apparently interpolated scenes from Minos to
Heracles contribute anything to the design or meaning? Why end on Heracles rather than Ajax?

Book 12: The Cattle of the Sun

Why are we treated to such elaborate instructions from Circe? How does Odysseus vary them in
relaying them to his crew, and why? How does the book sustain and develop the established theme
of Odysseus’ relations with his crew? How does the narrative technique of the Scylla episode
maximise the dramatic impact, and why should this episodeseem “most pitiful of all”? And why
doesn’t Odysseus’ neglect of Circe’s advice have any disastrous consequences? In what respects is the
Thrinacian episode climactic (apart from the obvious)? How does it build on and culminate earlier
themes? Why the final Charybdis episode? Is it an afterthought, or does it show signs of having
been planned for this position? What would we miss if it were cut?

Book 13: Odysseus Lands in Ithaca

Is the Phaeacian coda just a necessary narrative bridge, or does it have a wider function? How do
the narrative details evoke the simultaneous sense of an end and a beginning? How does the poet
further develop the book’s transitional character in the Ithacan scene? What’s the effect of the
Poseidon scene? Has the oracle been fulfilled, or what? The Athene scene is the fullest episode of
divine/human interaction in either poem; why is it here (and not somewhere else), and how does
the interplay bring out their individual characters and unique relationship? Odysseus’s
improvisation is his first Cretan tale: what details reveal the skeleton of fact beneath the flesh of
fiction? What do we now learn about the story ahead that has been hidden up to now, and what’s
gained in choosing this moment to reveal it? In what respects is the world of the Ithacan Odyssey
going to be different from the Phaeacian, and what touches here help to convey this?
Book 14: In Eumaeus’ Hut

The stretch of the poem from 14-20 tends to be the least-rated section, with critics complaining
especially of leisurely pace, repetitiousness, and padding; would you agree? To what extent do
these books show signs of careful planning and construction? Do we tend too much to think of the
“essential” Odyssey as 9-12 and 21-2? Is our sense of anticlimax based on a fundamental
underappreciation of the kind of poem the Odyssey wants to be? How does the opening scene use
details to signal the changes of world, tone, and texture? Keep an eye on these dogs in future books:
they’re one of many series of linked episodes in the Ithacan Odyssey that assemble into a
significant pattern (but what?). What other parts of the poem does the Eumaeus scene recall, and
with what implications? The dialogue here is the longest single conversation in Homer: why? Does
it just meander, or are there signs the poem knows just what it’s doing? How does the relationship
between Eumaeus and his guest change subtly? What purpose do Odysseus’ elaborate fictions serve,
and how does this longest Cretan tale (a) mould fiction around fact (b) adapt itself to context?
There’s a lot in this book about truth and lies; does it add up to anything? The book’s closing scene
(cadging a cloak) is singled out by Kirk as “one of the poorest digressions in the whole poem”; would
you agree? What use does it make of multiple levels of meaning, irony, and audience? In what
respects might it seem a fitting close to this book?

Book 15: Telemachus Returns

What parallels do you notice between the opening scene and the start of 6, and have they any
point? How does the Sparta segment generally recap and tie up themes from 1-4? What does they
gain from being read in the wake of 5-14? The Theoclymenus episode is a notorious seeming
irrelevance; but is it perhaps more relevant than superficially appears? How does it build on the
part of Melampus’ story told in 11? The second half of the book is built around Eumaeus’
autobiography; what makes this remarkable piece of storytelling so unusual and effective, and how
does it gain in significance from echoes and cross-references of episodes elsewhere in the poem? The
ambush plot seems rather peremptorily junked; is this clumsy storytelling, or has the poet sound
reason?

Book 16: Odysseus Meets his Son

The reunion of Odysseus and Telemachus, like Odysseus’ arrival on Ithaca and the events of 22-3, is
one of the most eagerly-awaited moments in the poem; how (in all these instances) does the poet
rise to the occasion, and what special tricks does he pull from his bag to make the predictable
piquant? How do the three characters’ exchanges prior to the recognition exploit tension, irony, and
emotion? What additional plot functions will Eumaeus’ mission fulfil? What does the planning
scene add to the picture emerging since 13, and what crucial gaps or weaknesses remain? What
issues are raised in the suitors’ dialogue, and in what ways have the stakes been raised since 4?
Amphinomus is a new voice; is there a reason for introducing him now? The reintroduction of
Penelope completes the reassembly of the cast; how does her scene reflect the changing mood and
approaching crisis?

Book 17: Odysseus Goes to Town

Odysseus’ move to the palace marks a new phase of the story; how is this new departure marked?
There are a lot of complicated cuts and scene-changes in this first section; is there a purpose to
them? How does the Telemachus/Penelope interaction reestablish old patterns and introduce new?
What function does the Melanthius episode serve, and in what respects is it a prelude to the palace
action? What is going on beneath the surface of the Argus episode, and how does the characteristic
Homeric understatement contribute to the effect? What main threads are developed in the banquet
scene, and by what stages? How do the variations in this third Cretan tale serve its context? In
what respects does the stool-chucking episode seem a culmination? (Keep an eye out for further
developments in the next books!) The final section turns attention from the suitors to Penelope. How
are the transitions managed, and what should we make of Odysseus’ response?
Book 18: The Beggar in the Palace

Has the Irus episode a function at this particular point, or is it just an interlude? What messages
does it express, and in what way is the longer-term situation transformed by it? Why is it followed
by the exchange with Amphinomus – is there a connection? The Penelope episode is notoriously
suspect; what would be gained if it were deleted, and what conversely would be lost? Is it a better
first encounter between Odysseus and Penelope than the one in 19? Does that one gain or lose from
being preceded by this? How do the book’s closing scenes extend the threads already spun? What
impression does the end of the book leave of the timing and nature of the showdown, and how has
that impression been created?

Book 19: The Queen and the Beggar

How does this book sustain the sense of imminent crisis? The plan outlined in the opening scene has
been criticised for inconsistencies with that in 16; can they be explained and justified? Why is there
a second scene between the beggar and Melantho? The Penelope scene is the third of the long
conversations; as usual, what’s going on beneath the surface of the words, and how do mood, tone,
and relations shift as the scene unfolds? How does this Cretan tale shape itself to context, and
what should we read into Odysseus’ seeming reluctance to tell it? Why does the normally sceptical
Penelope believe it, and how is the tension between credulity and scepticism exploited in the final
exchanges? By this stage the echoes of earlier moments in the poem are extremely dense and
complex; which particularly strike you, and what do they add to this scene? How does the
narrative of the recognition by Eurycleia exploit the dramatic opportunities? The scar flashback
suspends narrative time at a cliffhanger moment, but what does the content contribute? Is it possible
to make psychological sense of the closing Penelope scene? What’s really going on in the dream-
interpretation exchange? Why does she announce the bow test now, and what do we and Odysseus
make of it?

Book 20: Prelude to the Crisis

How does this book increase the sense of approaching crisis further? How does the structure of the
book assist this? What’s unusual about the narrative of the final night before the slaughter, and
how does the alternation between Odysseus and Penelope contribute? Why is the morning so fully
reported? Is the character of Philoetius merely a redundant twin of Eumaeus, or does he have a
differentiated function? This is the third and final banquet scene in the palace; how does it gain in
significance from the contrast with its predecessors, and what other notable series in these books
come in threes? How does the scene build to its extraordinary crescendo, and what thematic signals
are being sent out?

Book 21: The Contest of the Bow

How do we much do we know at this point of what has to happen? By what degrees is Odysseus’
full plan signalled to us? And as usual, how does the book draw substance from its reminiscences of
earlier episodes? Is the history of the bow merely related to emphasise its value and significance,
or do elements of the story itself hold some bearing on the action? How does the narrative of the
preliminaries to the contest exploit the associations of this crucial prop? What use is made of
contrasts between individual suitors in the contest, and how does it move the drama forward? What
will happen if nobody succeeds? Why is Odysseus’ unveiling to Eumaeus and Philoetius handled
when and how it is? How does the argument over the beggar’s participation confirm and extend the
main characters’ attitudes? What incidental details prepare the scene for the slaughter?

Book 22: The Battle in the Hall

In what ways is the battle narrative like and unlike the Iliad? How does the narrative exploit the
unusual setting, and how does it avoid monotony? What main phases does it fall into, and what is
distinctive about each? How is the moral basis for Odysseus’ extreme action invoked (a)
intellectually (b) emotionally? What do the numerous similes add? The topography of the palace
is hard to reconstruct, but does it at least make narrative sense? What elements are new? Why is
Athene brought in, and why is she so little used? Do any odeaths of minor suitors exploit earlier
appearances? To what extent do the mopping-up scenes demonstrate a consistent pattern of justice?
Why is the punishment of the women here at all, and why is it given to Telemachus?

Book 23: Odysseus and Penelope

How does the opening scene play on Penelope’s established psychology? What is gained by the
choice of viewpoint in the narrative of the Odysseus/Penelope reunion, and (conversely) what’s left
enigmatic? What’s remarkable about the first encounter and the use of Telemachus? Is the bath-
and-party interlude just a gratuitous suspense-stretcher, or has it a broader purpose here? Why does
Odysseus ask for a bed to be made? Why doesn’t he just show her the scar? What does Penelope’s
apology add to our picture of her complex personality and motives? Some Alexandrian critics
thought the Odyssey should end at line 297; what would be gained and lost if it did? What remains
unresolved, and what indications does the poem offer that the events of 24 were always planned as
part of the ending? Does the synopsis of Odysseus’ adventures justify itself here, or is it just self-
indulgent padding? Is the final scene a surprise, or should we have been expecting some such action
as this all along? Is this dismissal of Penelope from the final scenes a weakness or a strength?

Book 24: The Feud is ended

What is gained by the second underworld episode? Does it diminish or complete the one in 11? Why
is this a suitable place for the funeral of Achilles to be narrated? How does Amphimedon’s
narrative differ from the poet’s version, and why? Is Agamemnon’s closing moral banal or essential?
How does the Laertes meeting exploit the new locale? Why is it necessary for Odysseus to spin him
a tale? What touches individualise Laertes, and what later touches mark his transformation?
What makes the orchard device so effective as a recognition token? Why haven’t we heard of the
threat from the suitors’ kin before now? or have we? Is the Dolius scene improved or confounded by
identifying him with the father of Melanthius and Melantho? How does the scene of the kinsmen’s
deliberations exploit earlier episodes in its plotting? Is the finale impossibly rushed, or is there a
reason for the acceleration of pace? Do you think this ending is the poem’s “original” one? If not,
where would have been better?