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epic poetry in the Odyssey - Coggle Diagram
epic poetry in the Odyssey
Often use epithets
"Shrewd Odysseus"
"fresh and rosy-fingered" dawn
"Odysseus, son of Laertes"
"Owl-eyed Athene"
formal way of describing someone and giving characteristics about them
"Wise Penelope"
Inclusion of low or common details that have sometimes been thought to be below an epic poem
Eg. Book 20; Odysseus thinking about killing the suitors is compared to a black pudding
Lack of epic dignity with Odysseus staying up for vengeance on the suitors
Mythological allusions
Tiresias and Jocasta
Raised in the imagination which makes him a god fearing upholder of civil values
Aphrodite and Hephaestus
Diversifies and confirms heroic character of the narrative
Eg. Odysseus' is given Heracles' bow by Iphitus
Arrow symbolises duality of both
Suitors don't let Odysseus strring the bow; homer compares them to
Composed in oral tradition
Would be memorised and sung by a bard with a lyre
There were professional reciters of Homers poetry called "Rhapsodes"
Similies
More in touch with everyday life
Include fish similies for dying men (Greeks would know sea well with how it was few islands)
Blacksmith simile with Polyphemus' sizzling eye
Charm with connecting audience to what is happening for a better picture
Some debate if it was more than one person who made the Odyssey
No internal references to the author in the epic
Agreement under the name Homer and that he was a blind poet (like Demodocus)
Greeks belueved in the Trojan war as an event but questioned the reliability of the Odyssey
Poets are depicted as noble in the Odyssey (naturally romanticises position)
"Homeric question"
Because of our lack of knowledge of the "Dark age" Greece, we don't know what was fiction and what was reality (to an extent because of the Role of the Gods)
Gives insight to sophisticated Agean world before the dark ages - romanticised, but does give good information
Has influence on first strands on Heroism and atmosphere of revival in the 8th century BC
Epic is connected to deeds of the main hero
Imagery is always appropriate to the character, setting and theme
Odysseus' encounter from Nausicaa; extended description to tranquil Olympus
Animalistic imagery of slaying the suitors depicts savagery and Odysseus' pure revenge (cattle stung from gladfly)
heroic figure always has national significance
Poems can include seas and even different lands
Would always have a hexameter (- uu)
In media res is a part of epic poetry