unit 11

Text The Epic

Analysis Extraordinary heroes and hideous monsters. Brutal battles and dangerous voyages.
Workshop Spectacular triumphs and crushing defeats. The epic tradition, still very much alive
in today’s movies and novels, began thousands of years ago with the orally told epic
poem. In ancient Greece, listeners crowded around poet-storytellers to hear about
the daring exploits of a hero named Odysseus. With its storm-tossed seas, powerful
evildoers, and narrow escapes, it’s no wonder that Homer’s Odyssey remains one
Included in this workshop:
RL 4 Determine the figurative of the most famous epics in Western literature. It captivates us because it is a
meanings of words and phrases compelling narrative and a window into a time and place different from our own.
as they are used in a text; analyze
the cumulative impact of specific

Part 1: Characteristics of the Epic

word choices on meaning and
tone. RL 5 Analyze how an
author’s choices concerning
how to structure a text create In literature, an epic is a long narrative poem. It recounts the adventures of an
such effects as mystery, tension,
or surprise. RL 6 Analyze a epic hero, a larger-than-life figure who undertakes great journeys and performs
particular point of view or cultural
experience reflected in a work of
deeds requiring remarkable strength and cunning. As you journey through
world literature. RL 10 Read and many episodes from the Odyssey, expect to encounter the following elements.
comprehend stories and poems.

the epic at a glance

epic hero
• Possesses superhuman strength, craftiness, and confidence
• Is helped and harmed by interfering gods
• Embodies ideals and values that a culture considers admirable
• Emerges victorious from perilous situations

epic plot
Involves a long journey, full of complications, such as
• strange creatures • large-scale events
• divine intervention • treacherous weather

epic setting
• Includes fantastic or exotic lands
• Involves more than one nation

archetypes
All epics include archetypes—characters, situations, and images
that are recognizable in many times and cultures:
• sea monster • buried treasure • epic hero
• wicked temptress • suitors’ contest • loyal servant

epic themes
Reflect such universal concerns as
• courage • a homecoming • loyalty
• the fate of a nation • beauty • life and death

1194 unit 11 : the odyssey

 model: characteristics of the epic
Here, the Greek (Achaean) king Menelaus is speaking to his wife, Helen.
He recalls the moment when he and Odysseus hid with their fellow
soldiers inside a giant wooden horse, waiting to attack the Trojans.
Formerly a Trojan herself, Helen stood outside the horse and called to the
soldiers inside, mimicking the voices of their wives. As you read, notice
the characteristics of an epic that are revealed.

from
book 4 : The Red-Haired King
and His Lady
“In my life I have met, in many countries,
foresight and wit in many first rate men, Close Read
but never have I seen one like Odysseus 1. King Menelaus mentions
for steadiness and a stout heart. Here, for instance, several heroic traits that
5 is what he did—had the cold nerve to do— Odysseus exhibited while
inside the hollow horse, where we were waiting, carrying out his plan to
picked men all of us, for the Trojan slaughter, defeat the Trojans. One
when all of a sudden, you came by—I dare say trait has been boxed.
drawn by some superhuman Identify two more.
10 power that planned an exploit for the Trojans; Stout heart,
and Deiphobus, that handsome man, came with you.
Three times you walked around it, patting it everywhere,
steadiness
and called by name the flower of our fighters,
making your voice sound like their wives, calling. 2. What archetype does
15 Diomedes and I crouched in the center Helen represent? Explain
along with Odysseus; we could hear you plainly; your answer.
She represents the wicked
and listening, we two were swept temptress archetype because
by waves of longing—to reply, or go. she tries to lure the men out of
Odysseus fought us down, despite our craving,
the horse for an ambush
20 and all the Achaeans kept their lips shut tight, 3. Reread lines 8–10 and
all but Anticlus. Desire moved his throat 23–24. Explain how the
to hail you, but Odysseus’ great hands clamped gods interfered in the
over his jaws, and held. So he saved us all, episode that Menelaus is
till Pallas Athena led you away at last.” describing.

The gods used their powers

to interfere in the war/battle
with the Greeks and Trojans.

text analysis workshop 1195

Part 2: The Language of Homer
Because the language of Homer was ancient Greek, what you will read is an
English translation. The Odyssey has been translated many times, and each
translator has interpreted it differently. Read these two versions of the opening
of Book 2. The first is written in verse and has a more formal tone and diction—
closer to the original—while the second is written in prose and is less formal.

translation 1 translation 2

When primal Dawn spread on the eastern sky Dawn came, showing her rosy fingers
her fingers of pink light, Odysseus’ true son through the early mists, and Telemachus
stood up, drew on his tunic and his mantle, leapt out of bed. He dressed himself,
slung on a sword-belt and a new-edged sword, slung a sharp sword over his shoulder,
tied his smooth feet into good rawhide sandals, strapt a stout pair of boots on his lissom
and left his room, a god’s brilliance upon him. feet, and came forth from his chamber
like a young god.
—translated by Robert Fitzgerald (1961) —translated by W. H. D. Rouse (1937)

The Greeks who first experienced the Odyssey did not read a written version;
they heard it as a live performance. Singing or reciting, a poet kept the audience
enthralled with epic similes, epithets, and allusions.
• A simile is a comparison between two unlike things, using the word like or as.
Homer often develops a simile at great length, so that it goes on for several
lines. This is known as an epic simile. In this passage from Book 20, an angry
Odysseus is compared to a sausage being roasted over a fire.

His rage
held hard in leash, submitted to his mind,
while he himself rocked, rolling from side to side,

O
as a cook turns a sausage, big with blood
and fat, at a scorching blaze, without a pause, triggered
to broil it quick: so he rolled left and right, . . .

• An epithet is a brief descriptive phrase used to characterize a particular

person or thing. When a poet needed to fill out a line, he’d add an epithet
with the right meter and number of syllables. Odysseus is known by various
epithets, including “son of Laertes” and “raider of cities.”
• An allusion is a reference to a famous person, place, or event. To help his
audience picture what he described, a poet might have made an allusion to
something they already knew. For instance, when Odysseus’ son first sees the
palace of Menelaus, he says, “This is the way the court of Zeus must be.”
Every Greek would have understood this allusion to the ruler of the gods.

1196 unit 11 : the odyssey

 Text Analysis Workshop

model 1: epic simile

In this excerpt, Odysseus is watching the performance of a bard (a poet
like Homer himself). Suddenly he finds himself listening to the story of
the fall of Troy and of his own part in it. Notice the epic simile that is
developed over this entire passage.

from
book 8 : The Songs of the Harper
And Odysseus Close Read
let the bright molten tears run down his cheeks, 1. What two things are
weeping [like] the way a wife mourns for her lord being compared in this
on the lost field where he has gone down fighting epic simile?
5 the day of wrath that came upon his children. 2. In the boxed lines, the
At sight of the man panting and dying there, wife cries first for her
she slips down to enfold him, crying out; dying husband, then for
then feels the spears, prodding her back and shoulders, herself. Consider what
and goes bound into slavery and grief. this might suggest about
10 Piteous weeping wears away her cheeks: Odysseus’ feelings. What
but no more piteous than Odysseus’ tears, might the epic hero be
cloaked as they were, now, from the company. crying about?
Odysseus might be crying
about not being able to
make it home to his
model 2: epithet faithful wife and how he
does not feel right about
Here, the goddess Athena speaks to her father, Zeus, on behalf of the harm he’s doing to
Odysseus. Reminding Zeus of sacrifices made to him during the Trojan others.
War, she begs him to let Odysseus return home. Athena has told Zeus
that Odysseus is so homesick that he “longs to die.”

from
book 1 : A Goddess Intervenes
“Are you not moved by this, Lord of Olympus? Close Read
Had you no pleasure from Odysseus’ offerings 1. One epithet of Zeus is
beside the Argive ships, on Troy’s wide seaboard? boxed. Find another.

Tingly
O Zeus, what do you hold against him now?” 2. What epithet does Zeus
5 To this the summoner of cloud replied: use to refer to Odysseus?

“My child, what strange remarks you let escape you.

Could I forget that kingly man, Odysseus? man
There is no mortal half so wise; no mortal
gave so much to the lords of open sky.”

text analysis workshop 1197