Book I : A Goddess Intervenes –
The first book tells the reader of the imprisonment of Odysseus on Calypso’s island, Ogygia, in the tenth year after the Trojan War. It also describes the activities of the young suitors in Ithaka, who in the absence of Odysseus, live off his wealth and try to court his wife, Penelope. After the Muse begins his tale, a council of the gods is summoned, during which Zeus decides that Odysseus will return home safely from the urgings of this daughter, Athena, the goddess of war. Athena then visits Telémakhos, who is Odysseus’ son, in disguise and gives him the courage to stand up to the suitors, and also persuades him to go look for news of his father by sailing to the mainland.
Book II : A Hero’s Son Awakens –
On the next day, which takes up Book 2, Telémakhos calls the first assembly of the Ithacans since his father left for Troy. Telemachus formally stands up to the suitors, demanding that they leave his home and his mother alone. Antinoos replys that the suitors will remain until Penelope marries one of them and is angered that she has held out for so long. A pair of eagles is then interpreted as a favorable omen by Halitherses, a seer, and Telémakhos requests a ship for his voyage. After Telémakhos adjourns the assembly, the goddess Athena, disguised as Mentor, promises to get a ship and crew ready for his trip. At the palace, after talking with Telémakhos, the suitors grow worried about his plans. Telémakhos tells Eurycleia, Odysseus’ nurse, to prepare for his journey in complete secrecy; he then departs at night and sails until dawn.
The Essay on Odysseus Character Books Epic
1. Does the Odysseus of these books seem different in character from the Odysseus of Books V - XII? If so, why? In the books 5 to 12 Odysseus' character does not really undergo any transitions from one facet to another. Odysseus still carries the same attributes and traits right through to the end of the story. It is, however, evident in book 22, when Odysseus takes his revenge upon the suitors, ...
Book III : The Lord of the Western Approaches-
On the morning of the third day, Telemakhos arrives in Pylos, kingdom of Nestor, who had fought in the Trojan War. Telémakhos and his guide Mentor, are welcomed by the Pylians, who are sacrificing a bull to Poseidon, god of the sea. Telémakhos identifies himself and tells them his mission. Nestor’s reply is rather lengthy: he reports the homecoming of the heroes of Troy, talking about the murder of Agamemnon by his wife, Clytemnestra, and his cousin, Aegisthus. Nestor tells Telémakhos to visit Menelaus. Telémakhos spends the night at Nestor’s palace and, after a sacrifice, travels throughout the fourth day and part of the fifth to Sparta.
Book IV : The Red-Haired King and His Lady –
In the evening of the fifth day, they arrive at Menelaus’ palace, where his daughter’s wedding is taking place. Helen, recognizes Telémakhos right away by his resemblance to Odysseus and pours a potion into the wine to ease the grief of everyone. She tells a story about Odysseus in Troy; Menelaus answers with a tale of Odysseus’ wit while in the wooden horse. The next morning Menelaus tells yet another story about a sea-nymph who helped him.
Back at Ithaca, the suitors learn of Telémakhos’ trip and plan an attack him at the island of Samos. Penelope hears of their plot, but Athena in a dream assures her of her son’s return.
Book V : Sweet Nymph and Open Sea –
Book 5 opens on the seventh day of the poem with a second council of the gods on Olympus, where Hermes, who is a messenger of the gods, is told to go to Ogygia to order Calypso to let Odysseus go. Calypso, reluctantly agreeing, finds Odysseus, who sits weeping on the beach. She instructs him to build a raft. This he completes in the next four days; the day following, he departs for Phaeacia. On the eighteenth day of his voyage, he finally reaches Phaeacia, but Poseidon, returning from his trip, in anger sends a storm against him and wrecks his craft. Then he swims for two days and nights upon a magical veil given to him by the sea-nymph Ino until he reaches the coast. Odysseus escapes the sharp rocks with a prayer to the gods and falls asleep beneath the brush on the shore.
The Essay on The Day They Burned the Books
Rhys was involved in three different marriages and began writing after a near fatal abortion. She began to write some of her greatest pieces after moving in with English writer Ford Madox Ford who also convinced her to change her name to Jean Rhys. She died May 14, 1979 with a somewhat unhappy state of mind. English writer Ford Madox Ford was one of the first writers to discover Jean Rhys’s ...
Book VI : The Princess at the River –
Before the dawn of the thirty-second day, Athena visits Nausikaa, princess of Phaeacia, and in a dream tells her to wash her clothing when the day breaks. So in the morning she goes to the river where Odysseus is asleep. With her attendant maids she tosses a ball, and the girls’ screams awaken Odysseus, who is naked and dirty, he asks for her forgivness of this appreance in a flattering speech. Persuaded by this, she offers him clothing and oil so that he can get washed. After getting washed Odysseus speaks with the princess and asks her if she can help him get back to Ithaka. Not wanting the towns people to see her with a stranger she tells him to go to the palace later on that day and clasp the knees of her mother, the queen, and ask her for the help that he needs.
