Lesson 1.4 · Unit 1 · RL.9-10.5, RL.9-10.4
In medias res, invocation and epithet, in use
Lesson 1.1 named the conventions. This lesson shows them operating on a single passage, which is the only way to write about them for marks.
- The Odyssey begins in the tenth year, with Odysseus on Calypso's island and Telemachus at home in trouble.
- Books 1 to 4 do not contain Odysseus at all, which is an extreme use of in medias res.
- Books 9 to 12 are told by Odysseus himself, so the most famous adventures reach us as a character's own account.
- That embedded narration is worth suspecting, since the poem's most accomplished liar is the only witness to the Cyclops.
- Epithets can be functional or pointed, and the useful question is whether a particular one fits the moment it appears in.
- A Homeric simile is an extended comparison, usually drawn from ordinary peacetime life and often much longer than the thing it describes.
- The similes import a whole world of farming, weather and craft that the war narrative otherwise has no room for.
- Repetition of whole scenes such as arming, feasting or sacrifice gives the performer rest and the audience a rhythm.
Where students lose marks: treating the embedded books as neutral narration. Odysseus is telling the Phaeacians a story in order to be given ships, and that purpose is a legitimate thing to analyze.
The text. Homer, the Odyssey, Book 5, in Samuel Butler's 1900 translation. Public domain.
As a man covers a brand with black ashes to keep the seed of fire alive, and it smoulders in a desolate place where there are no neighbours, so did Ulysses cover himself up with leaves.
By this time the sun had set, and the darkness was over all the land. The gale grew stronger and stronger, and Ulysses was carried along on the waves for two nights and two days, and many a time did he expect to perish.
Step one: identify the simile's two halves. The vehicle is a man banking a fire under ashes in an isolated place. The tenor is Odysseus burying himself in leaves to survive a night.
Step two: work out what carries across. Preservation of something small and essential; covering as protection rather than concealment; and the fact that a banked fire is not extinguished but waiting.
Step three: notice what else the simile smuggles in. "A desolate place where there are no neighbours." Nothing in the literal situation required that detail. It is in the vehicle, and it imports Odysseus's isolation without the narration having to state it.
Step four: state the general principle. A Homeric simile does more than clarify. It brings a second scene into the poem, usually one of ordinary domestic or agricultural life, and the qualities of that scene attach themselves to the subject.
Step five: ask why this one is placed here. Book 5 is the reader's first sight of Odysseus, after four books of hearing about him. He arrives not as a warrior but as a naked man hiding in leaves, and the simile that introduces him is about survival at the lowest possible level.
Step six: connect it to the poem's structure. A poem that opened with Odysseus in glory would be a different poem. Delaying his entrance for four books and then presenting him at his worst makes the entire return a climb, which is what in medias res was for.
Step seven: examine the pacing of the second passage. Two nights and two days compressed into one sentence, while the single night in the leaves gets a simile. The poem slows for significance rather than for duration.
Step eight: write the analytical sentence. "By introducing Odysseus through a simile about banking a fire in a place with ‘no neighbours’, Homer establishes both his isolation and the fact that he is preserved rather than finished, so the reader's first sight of the hero already contains the poem's promise that he will return." That names the device, the evidence and the effect.
Questions 1 to 5 are recall. Questions 6 to 10 ask for reasoning.
- Where in the story does the Odyssey begin?
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In the tenth year, with Odysseus on Calypso's island
- Which books does Odysseus narrate himself?
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Books 9 to 12
- What is a Homeric simile?
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An extended comparison, usually drawn from ordinary peacetime life
- Name the two halves of the fire simile.
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Vehicle: a man banking a fire under ashes. Tenor: Odysseus covering himself in leaves
- How is Odysseus first shown to the reader?
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Shipwrecked and hiding in leaves, not in glory
- What does the simile smuggle in beyond the comparison?
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"A desolate place where there are no neighbours" is in the vehicle and nothing in the literal situation required it. The detail imports Odysseus's isolation without the narration stating it. A Homeric simile does not only clarify; it brings a second scene into the poem, and the qualities of that scene attach themselves to the subject. Isolation, carried by a detail belonging only to the vehicle
- Why is the poem's first sight of Odysseus significant?
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Four books have described him through other people before he appears, and when he does he is naked, shipwrecked and burying himself in leaves. A poem that opened on him in glory would be a different poem. Delaying his entrance and then presenting him at his lowest makes the whole return a climb, which is what the in medias res structure exists to produce. He arrives at his lowest, which makes the return a climb
- Why is Odysseus's narration in Books 9 to 12 worth suspecting?
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Because the poem's most accomplished liar is the only witness to most of its famous episodes, and he is telling the story to the Phaeacians in order to be given ships home. He has a motive and a demonstrated skill. Treating the embedded books as neutral narration ignores what the poem has already established about the man doing the narrating. The poem's best liar is the sole witness, and he wants something
- What does the pacing of Book 5 reveal?
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Two nights and two days on the waves are compressed into a single sentence, while one night in the leaves receives an extended simile. The poem slows for significance rather than for duration. That is a general principle worth carrying into any narrative: where a text spends its words tells you what it thinks is happening. It slows for significance, not for elapsed time
- Write a sentence of analysis about the fire simile.
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"By introducing Odysseus through a simile about banking a fire in a place with no neighbours, Homer establishes both his isolation and the fact that he is preserved rather than finished, so the reader's first sight of the hero already contains the poem's promise that he will return." It names the device, quotes the evidence, and states the effect. Device, evidence and effect in one sentence