1500 Van Ness
Port Townsend, WA 98368
360.379.4520
Due Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Mrs. Marston
The Odyssey Books 1-4
Choose one. Writing assignments must be handwritten and may be illustrated.
1. Write: ten “one-sentence stories” including characters, actions, settings and themes from the list:
characters Penelope Telemachus suitors sick old man woman slave
Athena Calypso Odysseus Poseidon Hermes
Mentes, old friend of Odysseus ill-mannered mob stranger servants
Ithacans Eurycleia Antinous
actions promise weaving slaying drinking betraying
clamoring set free decree feared welcome swaggering
making a plot
settings palace Mt. Olympus Ithaca great fore porch great hall
king’s storerooms wine-dark sea bluffs
themes grief hope encouragement plotting
2. WRITE: Homer uses the following themes in The Odyssey.
CHOOSE TWO (2) and write a paragraph for each explaining what the theme is and an additional paragraph for each citing examples from Books 1 through 4:
Xenia
Maturation (Growing up)
Costumes and Disguise
3. WRITE: the ways the following characters demonstrate the concept of xenia either by violating it or practicing it:
Calypso Odysseus Telemachus the suitors Penelope
4. WRITE: Another device Homer uses throughout The Odyssey is “the story-within-the-story.” In fact he uses a “story-within-a-story-within-a-story” in Books 3 and 4. Who tells a story; describe the events in the story; write how the story affects Telemachus. Write: How does this technique enrich the epic poem as a whole?
4. WRITE:
Why do you think Homer refers to Telemachus as “the son of Odysseus” rather than simply by his name? (Hint: how does Helen greet Telemachus)
Writing tips:
Make the paragraph the unit of composition Use the active voice.
Put the statements in positive form. Use definite, specific, concrete language.
Omit needless words. Avoid a succession of loose sentences.
Express coordinate ideas in similar form. Keep related words together.
In summaries, keep to one tense. Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end.