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Penelope at her Loom
John William Waterhouse
1912

The Odysssey

by: Homer

Opening Points to Remember

Homer and the Epic Form
By definition an epic is a long narrative poem, written in lofty style and dealing with the preternatural exploits of a national hero. Certain accepted conventions mark the epic. The most important are these:

A:The theme is a series of adventures befalling a national hero.
B:The poem begins with an invocation of the Muse (the goddess of epic poetry, one of nine goddesses of poetry and of arts and sciences.)
C:The poem begins in 'medias res'(in the middle of things). What has happened before is told by flashbacks.
D: A classic ,dignified meter is used. In Greek & Latin dactyllic hexameter.

The Stock Epithet
Homer uses many stock epithets, the conventionalized adjective or descriptive phrase applied again and again to persons and things. Morn is usually rosy fingered; the sea is wine dark or loud resounding; Odysseus is brilliant Odysseus or Odysseus of many wiles. Scholars realized that the poet used set combinations of noun and epithets as building blocks to fill out his six foot lines. Brilliant Odysseus for for a two foot space and for a three foot space he had Odysseus of many wiles.This became an accepted device for Greek epic style---(From Greek & Roman Writers by McNiff)--- Submitted by JudeS