Homer: The OdysseyThis handy guide to The Odyssey will introduce students to a text, which has been fundamental to literature for nearly 3000 years. Readers will be introduced to the world in that the Odyssey was produced, to the text itself and to its origins in oral poetry. This volume gives a summary of the poem and examines its structure. The unity, values and techniques of the poem are clearly outlined, as are the reasons for its longstanding appeal. This guide delves into the diverse world of the story; that of monsters, gods, and enchantresses which interacts with the very different world of the home, marriage and the family. Students will be introduced to the essential themes of loyalty and betrayal, and guided through the narrative of Odysseus' adventures, which also illustrate the workings of the world and the justice of heaven. Readers will also find a very helpful guide to further reading. |
Contents
The making of the Odyssey | 1 |
2 The date of the Odyssey | 4 |
3 Bards and oral poetry | 6 |
4 The language of the Odyssey and the formulaic system | 13 |
5 Is the Odyssey an oral poem? | 22 |
6 Alternative Odysseys? | 24 |
7 How the poem comes down to us | 30 |
The poem | 34 |
technique and variety | 52 |
13 The Odyssey and the Iliad | 60 |
14 Myth and folklore | 66 |
15 Some problems | 71 |
16 Men and gods | 74 |
17 Men and women | 78 |
18 Society and geography | 83 |
19 The values of the Odyssey | 90 |
9 Translating Homer | 38 |
10 Shape and unity | 43 |
grandeur and realism | 47 |
The Odyssey and after | 95 |
Guide to further reading | 101 |
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Common terms and phrases
Achaeans Achilles adventures Aegisthus Aeneid Agamemnon Alcinous Antinous appears Athena audience beggar Book Calypso century B.C. Circe comes Crete Cyclops dead death Demodocus disguised divine Egypt English epic epithet Eumaeus Eurycleia Eurymachus father feast give goddess gods goes Greece Greek hand hear heart Helen Hermes hero heroic heroism Homeric poems husband Iliad Iliad and Odyssey important instance insults island Ithaca journey killed King Laertes Laestrygonians later literature meet Melanthius Melantho Menelaus monster motif Mycenae myth narration Nausicaa Nestor Odysseus Olympus oral passage Penelope Phaeacians phrase plot poet poet's poetry Poseidon Pylos recognised sail sailors saw in section says scene ship simile Sing singer song Sparta spear speech story style Suitors tale tears Telemachus tells theme things told tradition translation Trojan Troy utterance verb verse Virgil wanderings weeps wife words Zeus