Invocation of the Muse Close Read
- Due Dec 5, 2022 by 11:59pm
- Points 12
- Submitting a text entry box or a file upload
- Attempts 0
- Allowed Attempts 3
- Available Dec 1, 2022 at 12am - Dec 12, 2022 at 11:59pm
Let's dive into The Odyssey! You are going to do a close read of the very beginning of The Odyssey: The Invocation of the Muse. This is a plea, or prayer, to do a good job in telling the story of The Odyssey.
Step 1: Close read this version by Fitzgerald. Links to an external site.
Step 2: Copy and paste the below information into a Word Doc, and type your response. Please highlight your answers.
The Odyssey- Close Reading 1
Robert Fitzgerald Translation (1961)
1. Rhythm is an important element in poetry. Does this selection have rhythm?
2. In line 2, there is a reference to someone who is “skilled in all ways of contending…” Who is this person? What do you think is meant by “skilled in all ways of contending?”
3. In line 3, this person is referred to as a “wanderer.” What is a wanderer?
4. Next, move to lines 10-16. Describe what happens to his shipmates.
5. Read lines 19-22. What does it mean to hunger “for home and wife?”
6. Calypso is introduced in line 22. Write three words that describe her.
7. All the gods “pitied” the person this story is about--except for which god? In other words, which god doesn’t like Odysseus?
8. Did the “brave king” finally come ashore on his own land?
9. Identify and write two epithets.
Now…
10. In a few sentences, summarize what the speaker tells you about what happened to the hero.
11. Check out these different versions Links to an external site.. What’s your favorite version and why? Be specific and think beyond what’s easiest to understand.
12. Go back to this Hero Cycle Diagram. What elements from the Heroic cycle do you already see?
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