Odyssey & Iliad Flashcards
Homeric question
The search for Homer’s identity
- Could one man singlehandedly have composed the Iliad and the Odyssey or are they the amalgamated work of many
- Did Homer ever exist?
THE IMPORTANCE OF HEROIC STORIES AND EPIC PERFORMANCES
- valuable cultural resource
- they provided entertainment
- historical continuity
- method of ethical thought
- an important vehicle for transmitting these tales
- everyone shared in excitement, sorrow and admiration
- a source of social cohesion
AN EPIC POEM
a long narrative poem, elevated in style, about a heroic figure who faces many challenges and is considered of national significance.
AN EPIC POEM CHARACTERISTICS
- The involvement of supernatural beings (gods)
- Conflict in the form of battles or other physical combat
- Stylistic conventions such as an invocation to the Muse
- A formal statement of the theme
- Elevated, often archaic, language
- A national or universal theme
- Well-known stories
‘in medias res’
in the middle of the story
Dactylic hexameter
the metre in which the Homeric poems are composed
Dactylic hexameter characteristics
- each line of a hexameter has six feet
- each foot can be made up of one long and two short vowel (samagloska) sounds, or two long vowel sounds.
- this allow the poet to vary the pace
- It’s usually used in classical poetry in Latin and Greek
Mycenaean period
Mycenaean Greece was the last phase of the Bronze Age in Ancient Greece, spanning the period from approximately 1600 to 1100 BC.
Mycenaean period characteristics
- It represents the first advanced and distinctively Greek civilisation in mainland Greece
- palatial states, urban organisation, works of art, and writing system
- they have developed a more sophisticated sociopolitical culture of their own
- The most prominent site was Mycenae
- a flourish culture that was based on rich palace centres; rich palaces, ornate bronze weapons and golden treasures
- Mycenea is the home of Agamemnon - in Homeric poems
Examples of references to material and practices of the Bronze Age
gold cup in Achilles tent
Golden cup (Circe in book 10 Odyssey served her honeyed wine in a cup like this)
bronze
silver door handles
soft tunic
leather thong
Examples of references to material and practices of the Iron Age
- Iron axes are a price in the funeral games (Illiad) and used in the bow challenge
- cooling iron is used in the simile (Odyssey)
- Mentes(Athene in disguise) is carrying iron cargo (Odyssey)
- iron us used as a metaphor (Odyssey and Illiad)
- Phoenician traders mentioned (increased momevement in the eight century)
- bodies are cremated not buried
- warriors carry two spears , not one
Bronze age
the period from about 3000 BC when bronze was introduced and came to be used widely
a RHAPSODE
in modern usage, rhapsodist, refers to a classical Greek professional performer of epic poetry in the fifth and fourth centuries BC (and perhaps earlier). Rhapsodes notably performed the epics of Homer (Iliad and Odyssey) but also the wisdom and catalogue poetry of Hesiod and the satires of Archilochus and others
BARD
In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or noble) to commemorate one or more of the patron’s ancestors and to praise the patron’s own activities.
What do you notice about the language and subject matter of the oral poetry?
The use of formulas, descriptive tags, Interesting epithets apply the places and heroes, “Brilliant Odysseus”,”Great hearted Odysseus”, Troy- “well-built” “ glorious”
epithet
an adjective or phrase expressing a quality or attribute regarded as characteristic of the person or thing mentioned.
Literary devices
specific techniques that allow a writer to convey a deeper meaning that goes beyond what’s on the page. Literary devices work alongside plot and characters to elevate a story and prompt reflection on life, society, and what it means to be human.
alliteration (aliteracja)
the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.
“the alliteration of ‘sweet birds sang’”
dramatic irony (dramatyczna ironia)
the expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.
‘Don’t go overboard with the gratitude’
gruesome ( makabryczny) detail
unpleasant, shocking
metaphors (metafory)
a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable
example: “I noticed his glossy tunic too, clinging to his skin
like the thin glistening skin of a dried onion. .”
epithet (epitet)
- an adjective or phrase expressing a quality or attribute regarded as characteristic of the person or thing mentioned.
- Epithets are word or phrases of description that are repeated time and again within a work of literature.
- An epithet is a word or phrase that describes a chief trait of a person or thing.
formulae - (formuly)
they are phrases which slot into a narrative; familiar markers of time and rituals
Homeric similes(symeli) (Homeryckie porownania )
Homeric simile, also called an epic simile, is a detailed comparison in the form of a simile that are many lines in length
Flashback
narrative technique of interrupting the chronological sequence of events to interject events of earlier occurrence. The earlier events often take the form of reminiscence.
PARALLEL SCENES
Repeated images, scenes, actions, snatches of dialogue and similes are woven into the narrative, and the patterns produced, bring an added level of understanding and appreciation. Each new reading brings a new parallel scene or reworking of an image.
SPEECHES-
about 8000 of the 12000 lines of the Odyssey are in direct Speech. The character is talking for himself, as opposed to using the narrator.
Purpose:
- Speeches give information, together with an insight into thee speaker’s character and perspective on events.
- The bard performing the poetry would have had every opportunity to capitalise on the speeches, and to bring his performance alive in a dramatic way
- they put responsibility on the listen who has to determine what’s the purpose of the speech; whether it’s genuine
- Speeches and dialogue are important to the epic because they:
- display a characters rhetorical skills through clever use of language
- convey character through the tone that the speaker uses
- emphasise irony
- create atmosphere by being, for example, shouted or whispered
- reveal much about relationships
- convey emotion
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
every object in the Odyssey is described with a detail of a close-up photograph.
Purpose:
It brings the Odyssey alive
the objects are easily imagined by the audience
small actions can engage the audience at a mundane level
*Homer uses sounds effectively - “the ringing of the bow string”
