SING IN ME, MUSE!

Ohhhhhhh YES. It's time to INVOKE THAT MUSE! And begin...

The Odyssey

"...the story of that man skilled in all ways of contending..."

Before we dove into a couple of juicy tidbits that the student edition of the text cuts out, all Freshmen received a copy of:

Notes on Epic Poetry

This link takes you to the un-annotated version. Check with a classmate to see the notes we added to it in class. Long story short, The Odyssey is an epic poem, and we can find evidence of every one of those notes our text. 

Today's focal points (both are in the Notes sheet):

• Invocation of the Muse
• If you're going to recite an epic poem, yeah, you better pray to a Muse to help you get through it in one piece. The invocation, remember isn't Odysseus himself, it's Homer, or the Narrator, asking for diving assistance delivering a great story.
• in medias res (thanks, Ross and Nandita in 6th, for correcting my butchered Latin punctuation)
• The Odyssey starts in the middle of the story, then goes back to tell you about the first stuff through the magic of FLASHBACK.
• In fact, in the student text, Odysseus is one boat ride away from home. He's been gone from his island of Ithaka for (10 Trojan War Years+9.5 years trying to sail home).
• But King Alcinous asks him, "Dude, where've you been? What've you seen, and done?" and that begins a multi-chapter flashback in which Odysseus recounts his adventures.

 HW: 

• Begin reading the the next passage: The Cyclops. It's long, you have 2 days to read it
• Choose a topic for your Original Myth (Due Friday)
• Do a session of Membean. It won't kill you.