Aim: How can an understanding of Greek myths and heroes prepare us for our examination of Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey?
The class started as usual, with Ms. Peterson asking if we see the google document in google classroom and taking attendance (and wishing us a happy Friday). For the first part of the class we had a kahoot Poetic Application Quiz, where we were tested on our knowledge of the poetic devices and terms we have been learning about.
After the quiz, Ms. Peterson explained that for the next two classes, nothing would have to be written or graded, since she wanted us to focus on our Anthology Project (if you are unaware of what that is you should check google classroom immediately).
We started the actual class with a Do Now: Whole Class Discussion where the discussion was about the following question:Brainstorm the qualities that you feel belong to a “hero”. What do you believe might be a working definition of “hero” you could share with the class. There were a lot of different answers, but they all had similar ideas, such as selflessness, bravery, sacrifice, doing what is right, and after hearing all these answers, we deduced that there is no working definition of a hero for all people. A hero can be different things depending on the situation or as someone in class said, depending on the point of view of the hero in question.
Then Ms. Peterson asked us what we knew about Greek mythology, since some of the characters or terminology would be used in The Odyssey. I started the conversation off, and talked about the “main” gods, like Zeus, the god of the sky and lightning and the king of the gods on Mount Olympus, his brother Hades, the god of death and the underworld and the husband of Persephone, and his other brother, Poseidon, the god of the sea and earthquakes. Other people threw in information about other gods, like Athena, the goddess of wisdom and Zeus’ daughter, and Apollo, the god of the Sun. Then we spoke about the religious customs of the Greek people when it came to the Gods.
The Greeks believed completely in the existence of gods and goddesses (polytheism)
○ Believed that gods took an active interest in human life
○ Gods behaved in human ways (possessed human
characteristics)
○ Respect for the gods was essential for success and survival
● Greek culture also known for hero-worship
○ Hero might be the town’s founder or a historical figure who
played a major role in an important battle
We then began our conversation about what an epic poem is. Homer’s
Iliad and The Odyssey were regarded as cornerstones of Greek civilization
and still are revered as the standard for the definition of the word epic.
An epic is a long narrative poem about a national or legendary hero.
However, this isn’t all there is to an epic. To be an epic, a poem must
fit the following criteria:
They begin “in medias res” (in the middle of things)- uses a flashback
to explain important action that occured before the story.
Flashback: the epic hero recounts his adventures in a scene that
interrupts the sequence of events in a narrative to relate earlier events.
● Has a vast setting, covers many nations (and the underworld)
● Features lengthy, formal speeches
● Contains divine interventions—THE GODS!
● Features heroes that embody the values and morals of the civilization
Then came the Class Discussion with the following question: Why would an author/storyteller choose to use these elements?
The answer to this question was because the author wanted to start in a place of intensity and action, but has to go back to explain how the hero got there. Speaking of a hero, what makes a hero epic?
● Superhuman qualities (stronger/braver than others)
● Still human, so has a flaw/weakness
● Must conquer many difficult tasks
● On a quest for something of great value
(to him or his people)
● Villain(s) try to keep the hero from his quest
● Physically beautiful
Then Ms. Peterson posed us with a question about whether or not the word hero was overused in our modern society. This can be since there are no “Greek definition” heroes, so we call people that do hero-sequel things heroes. The answer that my group came up with was that the word is overused, but it’s overused because the bar of a hero by Greek definition is too high for an average person and has unrealistic qualities. We were also told to compare our modern superheroes with the original definition of “heroes“. We decided that both groups have flaws and are the protagonists of their stories, and are quite similar to each other. Finally, we were asked if in our modern society whether or not we were searching for a “superhero“ similar to the ancient Greeks, despite our overuse of the term. My group said that we weren’t looking for a superhero, since then the bar would definitely be realistically too high, and that while we look up to superheroes, it is not because we want to be them, it is because we want something unattainable to look up to like the heroes of Greek mythology.
Reflection
In this lesson I learned a lot about not only what an epic poem is, but also more about the characters, or heroes, in them. This lesson was mentally challenging, very interesting, and involved a lot of collaboration which I liked a lot about this class. I think that in this class, we successfully laid down a foundation of understanding before beginning our reading of The Odyssey by Homer. In addition to learning about the technical information behind epics, we also had a separate conversation about our own beliefs concerning heroes, which I definitely enjoyed. Having a better and more thorough understanding of heroes also helped me understand epics and what a hero can be in different situations. This class had a ton of information, from the Greek Gods to the criteria that an epic must fit, and I hope this blog made it easier to take in.
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