Big Odyssey Test

Characteristics of myths:

  1. Roots in primitive folk beliefs or ancient rites and ceremonies

  2. Supernatural episodes interpret natural events

  3. Common themes:

    1. Creation of universe, world, man
    2. Death and life
    3. Natural phenomena – day and night, seasonal rotations, storms, etc.
    4. Adventures of racial/cultural heroes

Note: There is something in the themes of myth that speaks to the primitive in all of us.  Some writers have created a mythology, copying old myth forms, in order to reach what is primitive and basic inside us all.  These myth-makers include William Blake, T.S. Eliot, & W.B. Yeats.

  1. Epic hero –
    • of high rank, strong, courageous, clever, cunning
    • the hero’s qualities represent those valuable to his society
    • the hero struggles to overcome human character flaws
    • he faces supernatural forces
    • the story takes places over large, vast areas and locations
    • the story is told in a formal and grand style
    • the epic hero WINS!

Epic: A long narrative poem wherein:

  1. the hero is of great cultural significance

  2. the setting is vast – nations, world, universe

  3. deeds require great courage and strength

  4. supernatural forces – gods, angels, demons, monsters take part in the action and are interested in the outcome

  5. they storytelling is elevated, grand, formal

  6. the storyteller (poet) is objective.

    1. Conventions Established in Homeric Poems

      1. Adventures of a hero (usually national hero) as the theme

      2. ==Invocation to the Muse== – prayers to the muse to inspire a good story

      3. ==Beginning in medias res== – adds suspense by beginning the action in the middle of the chronological story.

        1. Actions in The Odyssey begins in the 10th year after the war with Odysseus’ request to leave Calypso.

      4. ==Stereotyped epithets== – like nicknames based on important identifiable qualities – ‘gray-eyed Athena’ ‘wily Odysseus’ ‘earth shaker’

      5. ==Epic Similes== – long comparison of actions and processes usually derived from nature

      6. ==Extensive monologues== – long speeches

      7. I==ntervention of the gods in human affairs==