10/19/09 - The Odyssey

• Epic Poems:
– a long poem dealing with events crucial to the survival of a people or nation, centering on the deeds of one central hero but extending to multiple plots in which the hero's deeds may figure, often involving the intercession (real or allegorical) of the gods.
– No single author (each is a product of the oral tradition)
– Written down after centuries of oral transmission

• Characteristics of an Epic Poem
– 1. Repetition: directions and reports are repeated, later incidents seem to echo earlier incidents
– 2. The Epic or Homeric Simile
– 3. Long, formal speeches such as challenges, inset narratives, flashbacks, and points of debate occur within the midst of the action
– 4. Speeches are often followed by such phrases as "thus he spoke" to emphasize that the words are those of a character and not of the narrator.
– 5. Elevated, literary language
• Even servants speak in dignified verse
• Characteristics of Epic Poetry (cont’d)
– 6. The manner of address between characters is roundabout and unnecessarily wordy and courtly
• characters often address one another in patronymics such as "Son of Peleus" (Achilles).
– 7. The pace is stately, the rhythm ceremonious. Catalogues (lengthy lists, particularly of leaders and their military contingents) create a sense of grandeur.
– 8. Epic machinery includes
• bardic recapitulations
• the Phaeacian poet Demodocus in the Odyssey recounts the story of the Trojan Horse
• a chief god's balancing the scales of fate
• a long and arduous journey for the hero
• weapons of supernatural origin
• a descent into the Underworld
• Characteristics of Epic Poetry (cont’d)
– 9. The opening of the epic will involve:
• an invocation and an epic question.
• The poet opens in the midst of the action ("in medias res") rather than at the beginning.
– 10. Epic conventions include:
the simile
the in-medias-res opening
the invocation
the epic question
the epithet
the climactic confrontation between mighty adversaries
hand-to-hand combat
– 11. The action occurs in an heroic past
• deities freely interacted with humans.


• Epic Hero
– 1. The hero is introduced in the midst of turmoil, at a point well into the story; antecedent action will be recounted in flashbacks.
– 2. The hero is not only a warrior and a leader, but also a polished speaker who can address councils of chieftains or elders with eloquence and confidence.
– 3. The hero, often a demi-god, possesses distinctive weapons of great size and power, often heirlooms or presents from the gods.
– 4. The hero must undertake a long, perilous journey, often involving a descent into the Underworld, which tests his endurance, courage, and cunning.
– 5. Although his fellows may be great warriors (like Achilles and Beowulf, he may have a group of noble followers with whom he grew up, he undertakes a task that no one else dare attempt.
– 6. Whatever virtues his race most prizes, these the epic hero possesses in abundance.
• embodies the ideals of a particular nation or culture
– 7. The hero establishes his nobility through single combat in superari a superiore, honour coming from being vanquished by a superior foe. That is, a hero gains little honour by slaying a lesser mortal, but only by challenging heroes like himself or adversaries of superhuman power.
– 9. The two great epic adversaries, the hero and his antagonist, meet at the climax, which must be delayed as long as possible to sustain maximum interest.
– 10. The hero's epic adversary is often a "god-despiser," one who has more respect for his own mental and physical abilities than for the power of the gods. The adversary might also be a good man sponsored by lesser deities, or one whom the gods desert at a crucial moment.
– 11. The hero may encounter a numinous phenomenon (a place or person having a divine or supernatural force) such as a haunted wood or enchanting sorceress that he most use strength, cunning, and divine assistance to overcome.

• Extended or Epic Simile
– an extended simile often running to several lines, used typically to intensify the heroic stature of the subject and to serve as decoration
– elaborate comparisons, or in chains of comparisons, by which the ordinary world is "braided" into the heroic world of the epic plot
• Often used to describe scenes

– Examples:
• As when the shudder of the west wind suddenly rising scatters across the water, and the water darkens beneath it, so darkening were settled the ranks of Achaians and Trojans in the plain.

• But swift Aias the son of Oïleus would not at all now take his stand apart from Telamonian Aias, not even a little; but as two wine-coloured oxen straining with even force drag the compacted plough through the fallow land, and for both of them at the base of the horns the dense sweat gushes; only the width of the polished yoke keeps a space between them as they toil down the furrow till the share cuts the edge of the ploughland; so these took their stand in battle, close to each other.

• Epithets
• main characters are often named by prominent characteristics
• "Hector of the loud war-cry“
• "Achilles, breaker of men"
• "the man whose name was known for courage“
• main characters are often named by kin association or clan allegiance, to recall famous lineage and to link sons or vassals deeds to their fathers' or leaders' fame
• "Hygelac's thane"
• "Halfdane's Son"

• Litotes or Epic Understatement
• the poet understates the most important fact about a scene,
• The "Battle of Maldon" poet describes Byrhtnoth, bleeding to death from massive sword blows and spear thrusts, thus: "He might no longer stand firm on his feet" (107).