CantaClassics

Epithets used to describe Calypso:

· Powerful

· Goddess of the flashing eyes

· The nymph with the plaited tresses

· Divine

· Gracious

Calypso is fairly vain, beautiful, and proud. This daughter of Atlas rescued the wise Odysseus from the brink of death as he drifted alone in the seas. Each night she sleeps with Odysseus and offers him the chance to marry her and become immortal. She cannot understand why he would chose his mortal wife Penelope, who’s looks are inferior to hers, and has not been blessed by immortality and eternal youth. She does not want to let Odysseus leave her, but her fear for Zeus is greater than her will to keep Odysseus. She is very cheerful and happy, skilled on the loom and carefree. She is jealous of Odysseus’ love for Penelope. She has a beautiful singing voice, and she is merrily singing and weaving when Hermes arrives to deliver the news of Odysseus’ return to Ithaca. She is wary of the hospitality required by the gods and when Hermes visits she pulls him a polished chair, greets him with “you are an honoured and welcome guest”, and offers him ambrosia and pours him a cup of red nectar. She is convinced that the gods are removing Odysseus through jealousy, and she fights back against Zeus’ decision, although she knows that she cannot possibly sway him. She launches a verbal attack on the gods, talking about how they rejected “rosy fingered dawn when she fell in love with (mortal) Orion”, and they snubbed Demeter when she fell in love with Iasion. Calypso is also described as being a “cold lover, ardent lady” when in bed with Odysseus. Her willpower is great, and she fights for Odysseus for the entirety of her life with him. Even as he prepares to leave she tries to convince him that Penelope is not the one, and that if he was to stay with her he would have a pleasant immortal life

By Lucy

‘Hello, I’m Chris Tarrant and welcome to ‘Who Wants To be A Millionaire?’

‘We have Odysseus with us in the studio today, hello Odysseus tell us a bit about yourself’

‘Hi Chris, I’m king Odysseus of Ithaca. I was in the Trojan War, alongside Agamemnon and Diomedes, and designed the Wooden Horse we used to get inside the walls of Troy. I share a personal relationship with the goddess Athene.

I’m married to my lovely wife Penelope, and we have a son together: Telemachus.

I enjoy being at home, glory and stabbing Cyclopes in the eye’ replies Odysseus.

‘Wow, king did you say? We’ve not had a king in the studio before, blimey.

What are you planning to do with the money?’ Chris Tarrant asks.

‘Well you see Chris, I’ve been away from my wife, my son and my beloved home for many years now; the gods wish not for me to return home to see the land I hold so dear in my heart’ Odysseus begins, ‘If I win the money, I’m going to use it to get home so I can see my family again, maybe get a car along the way’.

‘Alright then, we need to get Odysseus in the money so he can get home to see his family again. You’ve got 3 lifelines, 50/50, phone a friend and ask the audience.

Let’s play ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire!’ Chris Tarrant exclaims.

(Music begins)

‘For 100 pounds-

In Greek mythology, who is the supreme god of Mt. Olympus?

Is it A, Poseidon? B, George Bush? C, Zeus? Or D Queen Elizabeth II?’ Chris Tarrant queries.

‘Lock in C Chris’ replies Odysseus.

‘You’ve got 100 pounds!’ states Chris. (Audience applauds)

‘Question two, for 200 pounds-

Which famous poet wrote the epic poems the Odyssey and the Iliad?

Was it A, Homer? Was it b, Bart? Was it C, Stephen King? Or D, Shakespeare?

‘Lock in A, Homer please’ says Odysseus.

‘Sure it wasn’t Shakespeare?’ Chris Tarrant asks.

‘Lock in A Chris’ Odysseus finalises.

‘You’ve won 200 pounds!’ says Chris Tarrant. (Audience applauds)

‘For 400 pounds-

Which of the following was not a Greek hero?

A, Achilles? B, Adolf Hitler? C, Alexander the Great? Or D, Hercules?’

Odysseus ponders for a moment.

‘Achilles is I know that. I’ve not heard of Adolf Hitler before, nor this Alexander the Great. Ummmm’

Which of the following was not a Greek hero?

You’ve got 3 lifelines’ Chris Tarrant assures.

‘I’m going to have to have to go 50/50 Chris” Odysseus says.

‘Alright then, we need Odysseus to get this right to get 400 pounds to return home. Computer, take away two wrong answers, leaving Odysseus with the right answer and one random answer!’ Chris Tarrant briskly says.

(bleep bleep-Computer takes away two wrong answers. Odysseus is left with B, Adolf Hitler and C, Alexander the Great)

‘In Zeus’ name…’ Odysseus begins.

‘That really didn’t help a lot did it?’ Chris Tarrant enquires.

‘Not at all’ Odysseus grimly replies.

‘Adolf Hitler or Alexander the Great? Which of these was not a Greek hero?’ Chris Tarrant asks lowly.

(BOOOEOEOEOLKSBNFJSBFDNDOWBRLWBDSKNBLJSBLABDIWSB!!!!! Sounds the buzzer)

‘Oh no, that’s all we’ve got time for I’m afraid’ Chris Tarrant regretfully announces.

‘Well, it’s been great having you; you’ve won 200 pounds’. (audience applauds and Chris shakes Odysseus’ hand)

‘Thanks Chris’ Odysseus says in return.

‘But it’s not all bad, we’ll see you again tomorrow night to play for 1,000,000 pounds.

Until then, ive been your host Chris Tarrant and we’ll see you next time on ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire! Goodbye!’ Chris Tarrant farewells.

(Waves, audience applauds, bunch of credits go up the screen, music plays, the end)

By Anthrax

Spend some time reading through books 1-5.  Book 5 is the next big one for us, so you need to read that for next week.

How about a practice test just for fun?  I have attached a test below.  It is open book, but see how much you can remember.  Send me your answers, fax or email.

Odyssey Practice Test

Each of you is going to get allocated an important scene from book one to rewrite in a theme of your choice.  The rewrite is to be published on this blog as a post.  It will be two to three paragraphs long, so you will need to edit the scene to fit.

• Corey rewrite Telemachus’ first meeting with Athene, disguised as Mentes (page 6 line 113 – page 7 line 168)
• Lucy rewrite Penelope and Telemachus (page 11 line 326 – page 12 line 364)
• Sam rewrite Telemachus and the Suitors (page 12 line 365- page 13 line 420)
• Keila rewrite Athene and Zeus (page 4 line 34 – page 5 line 96)

The themes you can use to base the rewrite on are: Horror, Mills and Boon Romance, Lord of the Rings, Science Fiction, Comedy, Soap Opera.  Choose ONE.

Make sure you stay true to the intent of the scene.  Don’t drastically change the story.  Just play around with dialogue and description.

Have fun! (due up on the blog ASAP)

In today’s lesson we will examine Homeric Society (Greek society as portrayed in Homer’s Odyssey). The values and structure of society in the The Odyssey are very different to today’s. The Greek view of heroism is also quite different to today’s views.

Task

Read pages 15-16 of the booklet, then download and complete the worksheet below

Homeric Society (Click here to download worksheet)

Your second task is to blog some of your learning from today. Remember how to do this? Just log in to this blog and write a post. I have outlined what to do below. Use the content from the booklet to give you ideas.

(Keila you can just write the post in an email and I will post it on the blog)

Sam – you are a hero. Write a diary entry that gives an indication of what heroes valued in Homeric society

Corey – you are a slave in a typical Greek household. Write a diary entry that indicates what the structure of a Homeric household was

Lucy – you are a woman living in the Homeric world. write a diary entry that indicates your roles in society

Keila – you are a guest in a Homeric Houshold. Write a diary entry that indicates how you would be treated.

Worksheet to be emailed or faxed to me by the end of the Thursday. Blog entry done by the end of Thursday night.

In today’s lesson we will look at how Greek poets put their poems together. Hopefully you have read a few pages of the Odyssey text and you may have notice the nature of the language. Characteristics of Greek oral epic poetry includes:

• Written in an elevated style (grand themes)
• Heroic
• Composed to be read aloud
• Repitition
• Detailed descriptions
• Extended similes / metaphors

TASKS

Read pages 5-6 in your Odyssey Booklet (not the text). The heading should read “The Nature of Greek Oral Epic Poetry”. Put the same heading up yourself and complete these activities

1. What is an epithet? Give yourself an epithet that indicates something about your personality or a physical trait (e.g. blue eyes)
2. What is meant by formulaic phrases and scenes? (be careful you will have to think about the answer)
3. Why did Greek poets use such detailed description?

MAIN TASK – The four of you are going to write a collaborative, chain epic poem that you will then have to recite in the lesson on Friday. Keila will start it off, followed by Sam, Lucy than Corey. Each person should aim to add two paragraphs to the story. Use Microsoft Word to write it and attach the file to an email that is sent to the next person, and so on and so on, until it gets to Corey. Corey will then send it to me.

The poem is written about an everyday event that is written in the style of Greek Epic poems. This means it needs to use the type of language that you read about in the booklet and I outlined in the bullet points above. When I say an everyday event, it could mean a trip to Macdonalds, washing the dishes, driving home from school, etc. The key is to use ‘elevated’ language to make it sound epic.

THE CHALLENGE IS TO GET THE POEM TO ME BY THURSDAY MORNING!

To recap – Keila will start it off. She will then email it to Sam, who will write his part and then email it to Lucy who will add her bit and email it to Corey, who will apply the final flourish and send it to me.

I look forward to reading it. Have fun.

This is a simple note-taking lesson on the setting of the Odyssey and includes some information about the author.

Task:

Read pages 3-4 and complete the following tasks

1. Around what time is this story set and why is it so difficult to pinpoint this time?
2. Where is the story set?
3. Explain the debate surrounding Homer.
4. Where is it likely Homer drew inspiration for his story?
5. Note down all the reasons the life of a poet might have been hard.

PLEASE EMAIL OR FAX YOUR WORK TO ME BY TUESDAY NIGHT

This is our first week on Homer’s Odyssey, one of the all time great epic stories. This reads like a novel (although in a very different style to what you are used to), but is actually an oral poem. Yes that’s right…oral. This means it was never written down, but recited from memory.

It tells the story of the Greek King Odysseus after the Trojan War so runs on nicely from our previous unit. Without giving too much away it is a tale of persistence, courage and love as Odysseus battles his way back home to Ithaca. All the way he is thwarted by the god Poseidon who Odysseus earlier insulted.

Our first week will focus on backrgounding the story and will use the booklet I emailed you.

Visit this website for an excellent overview of the story – Mythweb