Important Literary Terms

1. Important Literary Terms • Epic • Epic Hero • Epic Simile • Epithet

2. Epic • An epic is a long narrative poem that tells about the adventures of a hero who reflects the ideals and values of a nation or race. • The epic portrays the past, but it is an imaginary past.

3. Epic Hero • An epic hero is a larger-than-life figure, usually male, who embodies the ideals of a nation or race. • Epic heroes take part in long, dangerous adventures and accomplish great deeds that require courage and superhuman strength.

4. Epic Simile • A simile is a comparison of two things using like or as. • An EPIC SIMILE is a longer, more detailed simile that can go on for several lines. • Example: “And Odysseus let the bright molten tears run down his cheeks, weeping [like] the way a wife mourns for her lord on the lost field where he has gone down fighting the day of wrath that came upon his children . . .”

5. Epithet • An epithet is a brief descriptive phrase that helps to characterize a person or thing. • Example: “Son of Laertes and the gods of old, Odysseus, master mariner and soldier. . .” • Epithets were used to give story telling a musical effect.

6. Homer & The Epic • History has been stored throughout time. • Artifacts • Drawings • Writings • Oral Tellings • When stories or information are passed down orally they are called folk tales or myths or fables.

7. Homer & The Epic • Homer: Scholars conjecture from scraps of evidence that Homer was a blind poet who may have been born on the island of Chios in the Aegean Sea. • Homer’s most famous works are: • Illiad • Odyssy • They have influenced writers throughout the ages for the beauty and power of their imagery, for their character development, for the universality of their themes, and for their extraordinary stories • Homer probably composed his works between 700 and 800 BC. • When Homer composed The Iliad and The Odyssey, the events in both stories were already at least 600 years old. Thus, the plots unfold in an age when recorded history was in its infancy, about 3,200 years ago.

8. Epic Poetry Epic Poems • It is a long narrative poem. • The speaker is a narrator telling a story. • The theme or subject of the tale is important. • There is an epic hero. • The action includes extraordinary or superhuman deeds. • The purpose is to entertain, teach, and inspire people how to strive and succeed against great odds. Epic Narration • There is an invocation where the poet-narrator starts the poem by stating the subject and asking the muse, one of the nine goddesses, for inspiration. • The narrator begins telling the tale in the middle of things, in medias res, describing what is happening after certain important events have already occurred . • The narrative includes speeches by principal characters. • The narrative’s tone and style are formal. • The use of figurative language makes the narrative vivid and exciting for listeners.

9. Odyssey Literary Terms • Invocation-the beginning of an epic poem where the poet- narrator states the tale’s subject and asks for poetic inspiration from a muse. • Muse-one of the nine goddesses who gave poets inspiration. • Homeric epithets-Many characters in the Odyssey have “stock names.” The same words are continually used to describe them (“Wily Odysseus,” “gray-eyed Athena” ). Homer isn’t being repetitive-these descriptions, called Homeric epithets, originated in the day when the Odyssey was recited aloud.

10. Odyssey Literary Terms • Dramatic irony-occurs when the reader knows something that a character does not know. • Epic similes-These are stock descriptions of places or actions also make the poem easier to remember; “…they stamped around the hall, like a herd of cattle set upon and driven wild by the darting horse fly…” • Archetypes-An original model or type after which other similar things are patterned.

11. The End Get ready to enjoy Homer’s The Odyssey!