The Odyssey Books V-VIII Reading Guide

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The Odyssey---Books V-VIII Reading Guide

(Pre-AP)

• Answer on your own sheet of paper---Attach this set of questions to the BACK of your answers
• Write in BLUE or BLACK INK ONLY! Yes, you may type your assignment if you’d like.

Reminders….

• You MUST take notes over all the characters as you read!
• Annotate with stickie notes or in your own book
• Be flexible with spelling of Greek names and locations! Each translator has their own way of spelling the names, places, etc.
• Write the translator’s name for the text you are using if it isn’t the Robert Fitzgerald version
• Proper citation of this epic poem is required, see instructions below

How to Cite from The Odyssey

• Copy text and place in quotation marks, open parentheses capital Roman numeral for Book, comma, Arabic numbers for line numbers. NO PAGE NUMBERS!
• Example: “……he had meditated on Aigisthos, dead / by the hand of Agamemnon’s son, Orestes…” (I, 45-46).
• Example: “While he spoke an old hound, lying near, pricked up his ears and lifted his muzzle. This was Argos…” (XVII, 375-377).

Epithet:A convention of an epic poem in which a word or phrase is used to describe and characterize a person or thing.

Example:“The finest student body ever assembled” is an epithet for the student population at James Bowie High School or

“Miss Pantuso, O humble educator of youth” is an epithet for Miss Pantuso 

Alert! Book V begins the fantasy world of Odysseus’s wanderings compared to the reality of Ithaka. The goal of an ancient Greek hero was to live a glorious life, full of struggle against great odds.

1. Why would Odysseus view Kalypso’s offer of immortality as a “living death”?

1. Odysseus echoes Telemakhos’s lament about how he will die. CITE Odysseus’s opinion of what makes a worthy death.

Alert! Men (and gods) of ancient Greek times were expected to “fool around” with the ladies. Women, however, were expected to be pure and faithful unto death.

1. CITE one example of this double standard of behavior.

1. Explain the irony at the end of Book V when “Odysseus’s heart laughed when he saw his leaf-bed” after landing on Phaiakia.

Alert! Take particular notice whenever Odysseus is near an olive tree. The olive tree is one of Athena’s symbols and is a symbol for life and rebirth. Odysseus will be “reborn” at the Phaiakian palace.

Alert! Hospitality is a guiding principle for the ancient Greeks. Both host and guest have certain obligations to fulfill.

1. CITE Nausikaa’s reason why hospitality must be offered to strangers without qualifications.

1. CITE one example of Nausikaa’s virtue.

1. Telemakhos is not the only one needing help from the gods; Odysseus benefits from Athena’s favor as well. CITE one example of Athena’s guidance and protection.

1. At the end of Book VII, neither King Alkinoos nor Queen Arete knows Odysseus’s identity. CITE evidence that they are extremely impressed with this stranger nevertheless.

Alert! Homer is traditionally identified as having been a wandering poet who became blind later in life. Notice how Alkinoos’s singer is described as blind with an exquisite singing voice.

1. The story of Ares and Aphrodite should remind you of another Odyssey story. Whose?

Alert! An epic or heroic simile is an extended simile that is fairly lengthy with many details.

1. When Odysseus first appears before Nausikaa, to what is he compared?

1. To what is Odysseus compared after he has taken his bath in the river?

1. Write an epithet that describes you. I will use this to compile a class list of epithets, so pick a good one!

EX: Miss Pantuso, O humble educator of Austin youth!

1. Write an epic simile about yourself. Have fun with this!

EX: An exhausted athlete, having run a marathon all uphill in a blinding hailstorm, her strength at an end, barely able to stay on her feet, stumbles across the finish line; just so, Miss Pantuso goes to her car at the end of the school day.