Transcript EPIC POETRY.ppt

EPIC POETRY
Homer and The Odyssey
What do we mean by “Epic”?
• Epics reveal powerful qualities,
such as heroism, majesty, and
bravery.
• They tell stories of great horror,
great tragedy, great triumph, or
any combination of the three.
• They have a dignified style and a
subject that is important to a large
group of readers.
• Examples: Homer’s Illiad and
Odyssey, John Milton’s Paradise
Lost, and Dante’s Divine Comedy
The
Destination or
The Journey?
• Think of books, movies, or TV shows that depict a
journey of some sort – whether it’s a quest to find
a long lost family member, a struggle to make it
safely back home, or a mission to fulfill an
important dream. Which seems more important
to the story, the destination the character strives
to reach or the journey itself?
Homer’s World
• The Illiad and the Odyssey
were composed in Greece
around 750-725 B.C. by a
blind poet named Homer.
• They are the greatest
masterpieces of the epic form,
narrative poetry about a
hero’s adventures.
• They were first told orally and
weren’t actually written down
until generations later.
• Three important elements of
the plot of each epic are the
Trojan War, the heroism of
Odysseus, and the
interference of the gods.
The Trojan War
• Occurred sometime around 1200 B.C.
• Began after Paris, a Trojan prince, kidnapped the
beautiful Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of
Sparta
• Menelaus recruited kings and soldiers from all over
Greece to help him avenge his honor and recover his
wife.
• The Greeks held Troy under siege for ten years.
• The Illiad takes place
during the 10th year of the
war.
– Achilles quarrels with
Menelaus’ brother
Agamemnon
– Paris’ brother Hector is
killed
• To break the 10 year
stalemate, Odysseus
thought of a scheme to
make the Trojans think the
Greeks had given up.
– The Trojan Horse
Odysseus
• The Odyssey takes place after
the Trojan war.
• Covers Odysseus’ journey home
from war, the monsters who try
to kill him, and the women who
try to keep him from getting
home to his wife, Penelope.
• Odysseus’ special gift is his
“craft” or “guile”: the ingenious
tricks he uses to get himself out
of difficult situations.
Intervention of
the Gods and
Goddesses
• Greeks believed that their gods not only
took an active interest in human affairs
but also behaved in recognizably human
ways, often engaging in their own trivial
quarrels and petty jealousies.
– ex. Athens, the goddess of war, supported
the Greeks while Aphrodite, the goddess of
love, supported Paris and the Trojans.
• Odysseus has Athena on his
side.
• He displeased the gods on
the side of Troy.
• He angers several more gods
on his journey home.
• As a result, he is forced to
suffer many hardships on
his way home.
• The Odyssey, with its
strange lands and creatures
were similar to our stories of
aliens and other galaxies.
Important Gods in the
Odyssey
• Eros: God of love (Also known
as Cupid)
• Aphrodite: Goddess of love
(Eros’ mother)
• Apollo: God of music, poetry,
and prophesy
• Athena: Goddess of war,
wisdom, and cleverness
• Muses: Daughters of Zeus,
viewed as sources of divine
intervention
The Epic
• Epic Hero: a larger-thanlife figure who undertakes
great journeys and
performs deeds
remarkable in strength
and cunning
• Epic: a long, narrative
poem that recounts the
adventures of an epic hero
The 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
The Epic Plot
• Involves a long
journey full of
complications, such
as:
–Strange creatures
–Divine intervention
–Large-scale events
–Treacherous
weather
The Epic Setting
• Includes fantastic or exotic lands
• Involves more than one nation
Archetypes
• Archetypes are characters,
situations, and images
that are recognizable in
many times and cultures:
–Sea monster
–Wicked temptress
–Buried treasure
–Suitor’s contest
–Epic hero
–Loyal servant
Epic Themes
• Epic themes reflect
universal concerns:
–Courage
–The fate of a nation
–A homecoming
–Beauty
–Loyalty
–Life and death
Epic Vocabulary
• Epic Similes
• Epithets
• Allusions
Epic Similes
• Simile: a comparison between two unlike things
using the word “like” or “as”
• Epic simile: a simile developed at great length
that goes on for several lines
• Ex.
“His rage
held hard in leash, submitted to his mind,
while he himself rocked, rolling from side to side,
as a cook turns a sausage, big with blood
and fat, at a scorching blaze, without a pause,
to broil it quick: so he rolled left and right…”
Epithets
• A brief descriptive phrase
used to characterize a
particular person or thing.
• Used when a poet needed to
fill out a line.
– He’d use an epithet with the
right meter and number of
syllables.
• Ex. This epithet characterizes
Zeus:
“Are you not moved by this, Lord of Olympus?
Had you no pleasure from Odysseus’
offerings”
Allusions
• A reference to a famous person,
place, or event.
• To help his audience picture
what he described, a poet may
have made an allusion to
something they already knew.
• Ex. 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.