The Odyssey Close Reading/Study Guide Name ______period______
The Journey of Odysseus
Location / Plot Events / Conflict Odysseus Faces(Internal and External Conflicts)
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Characters in the Odyssey (pages 647 – 648)
Zeus
Poseidon
Athena
Aeolus
Helios
Hermes
Lotus Eaters
Polyphemus
Circe
Teiresias
Characters in the Odyssey
Scylla
Charybdis
Sirens
Penelope
Telemachus
Eurycleia
Eumaeus
Philoeteus
Antinous
Close Readings from the Odyssey
#1 The Cicones p. 657 lines 149-175
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175 / The wind that carried west from Ilion
brought me to Ismaros, on the far shore,
a strongpoint on the coast of the Cicones.
I stormed that place and killed the men who fought.
plunder we took, and we enslaved the women,
to make division, equal shares to all-
but on the spot I told them: ‘Back, and quickly!
Out to sea again!’ My men were mutinous,
fools, on stores of wine. Sheep after sheep
they butchered by the surf, and shambling cattle,
feasting –while fugitives went inland, running
To call to arms the main force of Cicones.
This was an army, trained to fight on horseback
Or, where the ground required, on foot. They came
with dawn over that terrain like the leaves
and blades of spring. So doom appeared to us,
dark word of Zeus for us, our evil days.
My men stood up and made a fight of it –
backed on the ships, with lances kept in play,
from bright morning through the blaze of noon
holding our beach, although so far outnumbered;
but when the sun passed toward unyoking time,
then the Achaeans, one by one, gave way.
Six benches were left empty in every ship
that evening when we pulled away from death.
And this new grief we bore with us to sea;
Our precious lives we had, but not our friends. / 1. (a) Identify by circling the verbs in lines 150-4.
(b) Paraphrase the plot events (you can use bullets)
2. Identify by underlining Odysseus’ command to his men and how they respond. Interpret: why did they disobey him?
3. Now, identify by underlining the result of the battle between the main force.
4. A reader can make two interpretations about Odysseus’ leadership from this passage.
“He is a great leader” – support this with a CD and CM(s)
“He is a weak leader” – support this with a CD and CM(s)
5. In line 157 Odysseus calls his men ______while in line 175 he calls those who died his ______. Analyze why Odyssues’ feelings toward his men change.
#2 – Circe p. 673 Lines 539-576
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565
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575 / In the wild wood they found an open glade,
around a smooth stone house – the hall of Circle –
and wolves and mountain lions lay there, mild
in her soft spell, fed on her drug of evil.
none would attack – oh, it was strange, I tell you –
But switching their long tails they faced our men
like hounds, who look up when their master comes
with tidbits for them – as he will – from table.
Humbly those wolves and lions with mighty paws
fawned on our men – who met their yellow eyes
and fear them.
****
On thrones she seated them, and lounging chairs,
While she prepared a meal of cheese and barley
And amber honey missed with Pramnian wine,
Adding her own vile pinch, to make them lose
Desire or thought of our dear fatherland.
Scarce had they drunk when she flew after them
with her long stick and shut them in a pigsty –
bodies, voices, heads, and bristles, all
swinish now, though minds were still unchanged.
So, squealing, in they went. And Circe tossed them acorns, mast, and cornel berries – fodder
For h0gs who rut and slumber on the earth. / 1. Identify by underlining the simile in lines 544-5. What two things are being compared?
What action do you see in this comparison that helps you to interpret what expression is on the face of the wolves and mountain lions?
2. The lines 568-9 should remind you of some previous lines from the epic. Underline the familiar aspects. What previous event are they similar to?
3. Identify by underlining the lines which show what Circe does to the men. What are they now? Now that you see this, how does it make you reconsider the wolves and mountain lions from lines 541-9
#3 – Land of the Dead p. 675 lines 584-606
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605 / Then I addressed the blurred and breathless dead,
vowing to slaughter my best heifer for them
before she calved, at home in Ithaca,
and burn the choice bits on the altar fire;
as for Teiresias, I swore to sacrifice
a black lamb, handsomest of all our flock,
Thus to assuage the nations of the dead
I pledged these rites, then slashed the lamb and ewe,
letting their black blood stream into the well pit.
Now the souls gathered, stirring out of Erebus,
brides and young men, and men grown old in pain,
and tender girls whose hearts were new to grief;
many were there, too, torn by brazen lanceheads,
battle-slain, bearing still their bloody gear.
From every side they came and sought the pit
with rustling cries; and I grew sick with fear.
But presently I gave command to my officers
to flay those sheep the bronze cut down, and make
burnt offerings of flesh to the gods below—
to sovereign Death, to pale Persephone.
Meanwhile I crouched with my drawn sword to keep
the surging phantoms from the bloody pit
till I should know the presence of Teiresias… / 1. Underline the alliteration in line 584 and identify the repetition of the same consonant in several lines that follow. How does this repetition impact the reader?
2. Reread lines 596-7. Who could these people be?
3. Underline the deities Odysseus makes “burnt offerings of flesh” to. Interpret why he does that.
4. Identify by underlining the words that show the fear Odysseus has. How do we know he doesn’t let it paralyze him?
#4 The Prophecy of Teiresias – p. 676-7, lines 618-638
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635 / ‘Great captain,
a fair wind and the honey lights of home
are all you seek. But anguish lies ahead;
the god who thunders on the land prepares it,
not to be shaken from your track, implacable,
in rancor for the son whose eye you blinded.
One narrow strait may take you through his blows:
denial of yourself, restraint of shipmates.
When you make landfall on Thrinakia first
and quit the violet sea, dark on the land
you’ll find the grazing herds of Helios
by whom all things are seen, all speech is known.
Avoid those kine, hold fast to your intent,
and hard seafaring brings you all to Ithaca.
But if you raid the beeves, I see destruction
for ship and crew. Though you survive alone,
bereft of all companions, lost for years,
under strange sail shall you come home, to find
your own house filled with trouble: insolent men
eating your livestock as they court your lady.
Aye, you shall make those men atone in blood! / 1. The prophet knows what Odysseus seeks. Identify by underlining it.
2. Number the future events Odysseus will experience (5-7)
3. Identify by underlining the evidence that shows Teiresias is talking about the god Poseidon in lines 621-3.
4. Paraphrase lines 626-633 to the period (end of the third sentence)
Someone has already said that Odysseus will return home “under strange sail.” Who was it? ______Interpret: Why do you think it is repeated here?
#5 Sirens p. 78 lines 667-678
670675 / “… There are bones
of dead men rotting in a pile beside them
and flayed skins shrivel around the spot.
Steer wide;
keep well to seaward; plug your oarsmen’s ears
with beeswax kneaded soft; none of the rest
should hear that song.
But if you wish to listen,
let the men tie you in the lugger, hand
and foot, back to mast, lashed to the mast,
so you may hear those Harpies’ thrilling voices;
shout as you will, begging to be untied,
your crew must only twist more line around you
and keep their stroke up, till the singers fade…” / 1. Identify by underlining what Circe tells Odysseus he should do so his men do not hear the Sirens song.
2. Put in brackets [ ] what she tells him his men should do to him so that he can listen to the songs.
3. Identify by circling examples of imagery and underline the vivid verbs.
4. What impact do the images and verbs have on the reader?
#6 Charybdis pg. 682-683 lines 802-816
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815 / And all this time,
in travail, sobbing, gaining on the current,
we rowed into the strait-Scylla to port
and on our starboard beam Charybdis, dire
gorge of the salt sea tide. By heaven! when she
vomited, all the sea was like a caldron
seething over intense fire, when the mixture
suddenly heaves and rises.
The shot spume
soared to all the landside heights, and fell like rain.
But when she swallowed the sea water down
we saw the funnel of the maelstrom, heard
the rock bellowing all around, and dark
sand raged on the bottom far below.
My men all blanched against the gloom, our eyes
were fixed upon the yawning mouth in fear
of being devoured. / 1. Identify by underlining the two similes.
2. What does “when she vomited” mean in this passage?
3. ______is personified because it ______.
4. Identify by circling examples of imagery and underline the vivid verbs.
#7 Scylla 683 lines 817-832
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830 / Then Scylla made her strike,
whisking six of my best men from the ship.
I happened to glance aft at ship and oarsmen
and caught sight of their arms and legs, dangling
high overhead. Voices came down to me
in anguish, calling my name for the last time.
A man surfcasting on a point of rock
for bass or mackerel, whipping his long rod
to drop the sinker and the bait far out,
will hook the fish and rip it from the surface
to dangle wriggling through the air;
so these
were borne aloft in spasms toward the cliff.
She ate them as they shrieked there, in her den
in the dire grapple, reaching still for me-
and deathly pity ran me through
at that sight-far the worst I ever suffered
questing the passes of the strange sea. / 1. Draw a box around the Homeric simile.
2. Underline the comparison word. (like, as, just so).
3. ______is being compared to ______.
What action do you see in this comparison that helps you understand what happens to the men?
4. Put brackets [ ] around the number of men that are taken by Charybdis.
5. Put brackets [ ] around the effect that this loss of men has on Odysseus.
#8 The Cattle of the Sun God p. 685 lines 878-894, 923-930
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923 / Now on the shore Eurylochus
Made his insidious plea:
‘Comrades,’ he said,
‘You’ve gone through everything; listen to what I say.
All deaths are hateful to us, mortal wretches,
But famine is the most pitiful, the worst end that a man can come to.
Will you fight it?
Come, we’ll cut out the noblest of these cattle
for sacrifice to the gods who own the sky;
And once at home, in the old country of Ithaca, if ever that day comes –
We’ll build a costly temple and adorn it
With every beauty for the Lord of Noon.
But if he flares up over his heifers lost,
Wishing our ship destroyed, and if the gods
Make cause with him, why, then I say: Better
Open your lungs to a big sea once for all
Than waste to skin and bones on a lonely island!’
****
‘O father Zeus and gods in bliss forever,
Punish Odysseus’ men! So overweening,
Now they have killed my peaceful kine, my joy
At morning when I climbed the sky of stars,
And evening, when I bore westward from heaven.
Restitution or penalty they shall pay –
And pay in full – or I go down forever
To light the dead men in the underworld.’ / 1. In lines 879-894, Eurylochus makes an “insidious plea.” Based on the context interpret the meaning of this phrase.
2. What argument does Eurylochus make? Paraphrase it in your own words.
Identify by underlining the lines that prove your interpretation of the argument.
3. If Zeus does not punish Odysseus’ men for eating his cattle, what does he threaten to do? Paraphrase it in your own words.
Identify by underlining the lines that reveal this threat.
#9 Calypso– p. 652 lines 35-63
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60 / “No words were lost on Hermes the wayfinder
who bent to tie his beautiful sandals on,
ambrosial, golden, that carry him over water
or over endless land in a swish of the wind,
and took the wand with which he charms asleep –
or when he wills, awake – the eyes of men.
So wand in hand he paced into the air,
shot from Pieria down, down to sea level,
and veered to skim the swell. A gull patrolling
between the wave crests of the desolate sea
will dip to catch a fish, and douse his wings;
no higher above the whitecaps Hermes flew
until the distant island lay ahead,
then rising shoreward from the violet ocean
he stepped up to the cave. Divine Calypso,
the mistress of the isle, was now at home,
upon her hearthstone a great fire blazing
scented the farthest shores with cedar smoke
and smoke of thyme, and singing high and low
in her sweet voice, before her loom aweaving,
she passed her golden shuttle to and fro.
A deep wood grew outside, with summer leaves
of alder and black poplar, pungent cypress.
Ornate birds here rested their stretched wings –
horned owls, falcons, cormorants – long-tongued
beachcombing birds, and followers of the sea.
Around the smooth-walled cave a crooking vine
held purple clusters under ply of green;
and four springs, bubbling up near one another
shallow and clear, took channels here and there
through beds of violets and tender parsley. / 1. Draw a box around the Homeric simile.
2. Identify by underlining the comparison word. (like, as, just so).
3. ______is being compared to ______.
What action do you see in this comparison that helps you see Hermes?
4. What do you see, hear, feel and smell in this famous description of Calypso’s home? Identify by circling the sensory images in this passage. Label each according to the sense:
V=Visual (sight)
O=Olfactory (smell)
A=Auditory (hearing)
T=Tactile (touch)
#10 The Court of Alcinous, king of the Phaeacians – p. 656 lines 125-146