1. Homer’s The Odyssey (Odyssey – a journey)

2. Odysseus leaves for Troy Left behind: Wife – Penelope Son – Telemachus
Summary
Odysseus leaves for Troy
Left behind:
Wife – Penelope
Son – Telemachus
Poem opens – Trojan War over for 10 years
Odysseus has been gone from Ithaca since the end of the war

3. Summary While Odysseus was gone:
Suitors lined up to claim Penelope (they believed Odysseus to be dead)
She promised to pick a suitor when she finished weaving a shroud
Every evening, she would undo what she did that day (for two years)
Telemachus (son) was 20 years old by now

4. Odysseus’ Odyssey Land of the Circones He started a war with them
Land of the Lotus-Eaters
Eat lotus (drug)

5. Odysseus’ Odyssey Cyclops (Polyphemus) Ate some of Odysseus’ men
Odysseus’ and his men became trapped in his cave
Cyclops came home
Men got him drunk
Men stabbed his eye
Escaped by sheep

6. Odysseus’ Odyssey Aeolian Islands King Aeolus – Lord of the Winds
Gave Odysseus a bag of wind – all winds but the one that would blow them home towards Ithaca (so the only wind was helping them home!)
Men opened bag – BIG STORM!!!
Witch Circe
Turned men into swine (pigs)
Told them to go to the Underworld

7. Odysseus’ Odyssey Island of Sirens
Women who sang to lure men to their deaths
Calypso’s Island
Only Odysseus made it to her island – all of his men were killed
Spend several years as her love slave
Odysseus becomes upset – wants to go home
Athena asks Zeus to let him go home
Builds a raft

8. Odysseus’ Odyssey Poseidon attempts to kill Odysseus
Reaches Ithaca (washes up on shore)
Meets Athena disguised as a young man
They concoct a plan for his return home

9. Literary Elements: Poetry
Epic Poem – tells a larger-than-life story
Examples: The Odyssey, Beowulf
Epic Hero – larger-than-life character, typically a man, who pursues long and dangerous adventures
Example: Odysseus

10. Literary Elements: Poetry
Narrative Poem – tells a story or recounts events
Examples: “Casey at the Bat”, The Odyssey
Prose – written expression (not in verse) – words at end of lines do not rhyme