Odyssey Essay

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Odyssey Essay

• Some brain droppings from Mr. Kelly as he graded
  last years essays

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Brain droppings in three parts

• Content
• Mechanical
• MLA

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Content

• Who is your audience?
• Avoid sweeping statements
• Throughout history, man has always worshipped
  gods.
• Can you prove this? What is this really telling
  us?
• Be sure to answer the prompt.
• History books are different than literature.
• Hard to write about something you didnt read.
• Many argued only what we discussed in class
• Make sure facts, plot, characters are correct.
• What happened to introductions?
• Attention getters.
• Grading

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Quality versus Lame quotes

• Your quote is support for your analysis, for your
  argument. If your argument is the gods played a
  role in everyday life, you could use this
• Pallas Athena, harboring kindness for the hero,
  / drifted a heavy mist around him, shielding him
  / from any swaggering islander whod cross his
  path, / provoke him with taunts and search out
  who he was (Homer 3.16-19).
• Look at each word, literary device, etc.
  Anything at all that can help you argue your
  point.

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Look at every detail

• Look at this quote and take notice of every
  detail
• Pallas Athena, harboring kindness for the hero,
  / drifted a heavy mist around him, shielding him
  / from any swaggering islander whod cross his
  path, / provoke him with taunts and search out
  who he was

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• Pallas Athena, harboring kindness for the hero,
  / drifted a heavy mist around him, shielding him
  / from any swaggering islander whod cross his
  path, / provoke him with taunts and search out
  who he was

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Nuts and Bolts

• For poetry
• Lines are represented with /
• for The Odyssey, use (book.lines) (Homer
  19.125-129)
• If a string of quotes all from the same source,
  drop the authors name. (22.128-130)
• For film and textbook, look up MLA Format
• LMC Website
• Google MLA citations
• MLA film citations
• MLA Multivolume book citations

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Quotes and citations (MLA)

• We use quotes to support our argument with solid
  evidence.
• A citation is a cross-reference. If you make an
  argument, your reader should be able to pick up
  the book you are citing and get more information.
  

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(No Transcript)
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Mechanical

• Biggest problem area
• Proofread.
• Reread it yourself, aloud.
• Have another person read it.
• Writing lab
• Efficient sentences
• Rewrite the following, using as few words as
  possible
• In ancient Greece, the people believed that the
  gods were major parts of their lives, the people
  of Greece would pray to them and look to them for
  help as did the characters in The Odyssey.

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Mechanical

• Active vs. Passive voice
• Active voice The subject performs the action
  (subject/verb/object)
• Odysseus sacrifices the bull.
• Passive voice The subject is acted upon.
  (object/verb/subject usually uses a to be verb.)
• The bull was sacrificed by Odysseus.

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Mechanical

• Quoting literature
• Poetry Use a slash \ to indicate a line break.
• Over four lines, use block quotes.
• Grading

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MLA

• How do I remember this stuff?
• Look it up! Google MLA format..
• Who is the author of The Odyssey?
• Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. Robert Fagles. New
  York Penguin Books, 1996.
• Notice no Bernard Knox? He wrote the
  forwarddont need to cite him.

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Three ways to weave a quote (MLA)

• Comma the most common.
• Proctor says, I think it is not easy to prove
  shes a fraud, and the town gone so silly
  (Miller 63).
• I think it is not easy to prove shes a fraud,
  Proctor says to Danforth, and the town gone so
  silly.
• Or it can be woven more fluently.
• While trying to wrestle with the chaos in Salem,
  Proctor argues, the town gone so silly (Miller
  63).

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Three ways to weave a quote

• Integrate the quote into your own sentence
• However, if the town continues on the path
  forged, the main role of government changes from
  that of the arbiter to that of the scourge of
  God (Miller 34).

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Three ways of weaving a quote

• Use a colon (probably the least common)
• Proctor believes he will not be believed in the
  court of Salem She told it to me in a room
  aloneI have no proof of it (Miller 53).

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Punctuation

• I have no proof for it (Miller 53).
• You were alone with her? (Miller 53).

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• The power of the media has always had a massive
  impact on society. It spreads the latest news,
  gossips, and alerts in a matter of seconds
  keeping everyone informed. Although television
  sets and radios were not invented until the
  twentieth century, the word of mouth was just as
  powerful during the Ancient Greek era as the
  television is today. Oral recitation of was a
  great medium in ancient times and a popular form
  of entertainment often performed by bards and
  adored by muses. Homers epic poem, The Odyssey,
  best captured Greek culture owing to its
  signature tale of the King Odysseuss chaotic
  journey home after the Trojan War. Due to the
  eloquent art of oral recitation, this epic tale
  told by Homer became a prominent signature of the
  Ancient Greek society and its lifestyles
  emphasized by potent epithets.
• The use of epithets during oral recitation kept
  honorable names alive and acknowledged (Fiero
  73). When young Dawn with her rose-red fingers
  shone once more they yoked their pair again,
  mounted the blazoned car and though the gates and
  echoing colonnade they whipped the team to a run
  and on they flew, holding nothing back--and the
  princes reached the wheatlands, straining now for
  journeys end, so fast those purebred stallions
  raced them on as the sun sank and the roads grew
  dark (Fagles 550 bk. 3). Dawns epithet is
  often repeated in The Odyssey. It expresses a
  more positive mood to the audience and informs of
  a new day, fresh start, and/or a new undertaking.
  Dawn, also referred to as sunrise, is
  capitalized in each of its epithets. This small
  detail personifies the term dawn, giving it
  god-like qualities and a sort of importance to
  Greek culture.

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• Of the many ancient societies upon which
  western culture and customs are based, perhaps
  none is more important and evident in our daily
  lives that the Greek Culture. Several common
  practices of ancient Greeks have become common to
  modern cultures, both Western and otherwise. One
  custom that has survived the test of time is the
  concept of hospitality towards strangers and
  guests to ones home or business. At the height
  of Greek power, the practice of hospitality was
  widespread and avidly followed. One of the best
  works to chronicle the practice and influence of
  hospitality in ancient Greece is Homers Odyssey.
  During Odysseuss travels, he meets a myriad of
  people, nearly all of whom treat him graciously
  and as an honored guest. The key to Homers
  depiction of hospitality, however, is not just
  the examples of generous hospitality, but the
  range of responses Odysseus receives from his
  hosts. The practice of hospitality, whether
  generous or meager, in Odysseuss time is
  depicted in Homers Odyssey through the actions
  of Odysseuss hosts and captors. Additionally,
  the measure of ones hospitality to another was
  often based in the context of their respect for
  the guests lineage, honor, or intentions, or
  simply in the hosts own fear of retribution from
  gods and goddesses.
• When travelling to their various destinations,
  Odysseus and Telemachus are often treated royally
  simply because they are of a noble and famous
  lineage. Odysseuss father, Laertes, while aging
  and no longer in power, was the king of Ithaca
  and some surrounding land, and his fame spread
  throughout the ancient world quickly. Some of
  Odysseuss hosts are able to recognize him or
  sense similarities between him and his father
  upon hearing about his past struggles and
  travels. Telemachus experiences similar treatment
  is his travels to Pylos, where he is greeted by
  King Nestor. Nestor had campaigned at war
  alongside Odysseus and revered him. The king is
  amazed at the resemblance between Telemachus and
  Odysseus, saying, I look at you and a sense of
  wonder takes me. You way with words its just
  like his Id swear no youngster could ever
  speak like you, so apt, so telling (Homer
  III.138-140). Nestor then offers the advice and
  information Telemachus had sought from the king.
  A feast is arranged in Telemachuss honor, and
  the services of Nestors son, Pisistratus, are
  offered. Odysseus encounters the same treatment
  during his voyages as well. He is often referred
  to as the son of Laertes in conversation with
  those who know him or his father. These actions
  are consistent with the habits of Greek hosts,
  who would often take special measures to care for
  a known guest or family member of a close friend.
  One of the most significant attributes of a
  person in Grecian times was their heritage and
  ancestry. This influence often carried over into
  ones hospitality towards a visitor The Greeks
  traced their origins to events related to the
  story of Zeus (Fiero Vol. 1 77). As seen in the
  Odyssey, Ancient Greeks placed high authority in
  ones family ties.