Download Comprehensive Notes for Epic and Myth Unit

Comprehensive Notes for Epic and Myth
Unit
(use pages 946-963)
Directions:
While reading the above pages, fill in the
missing information in the sections below.
(p. 946-947)
An ____________ is a long narrative poem about a serious subject.
Its action centers on the _______________________ , whose primary goal is usually to
save his nation or its people during a time of _______________.
The purpose of the epic poem is threefold:
_______________, and to ____________________.
to
__________________, to
In epics, __________ may take part in the action or at least take an interest in what
happens.
The way an author
________________.
organizes
images,
ideas,
words,
and lines
is
called
The Odyssey begins with an ___________________, a request to a ____________ to
provide inspiration.
In Greek mythology, the _________________ are nine ___________________ who
preside over the ____________ and _____________ and inspire those who show talent in
these areas.
A ______________ is a traditional story of ____________________ origin.
An ______________________ is a thing, person, or pattern of circumstances that appears
repeatedly in _____________________.
A ____________________ is an object, person, place, or event that has a literal meaning
and a _________________ meaning. For example, a _______________ is often used as
a symbol of love.
(p. 950-951)
What has made Homer for three thousand years the greatest poet in the world is his
___________________.
The best-known piece of lore about Homer is that he was _______________.
The main thing is that his sense of the ________________ was the work of his
________________________.
No hero ever has been so little doom-eager as Homer’s ___________________.
That _________________ is a hoaxer is already known before the Odyssey.
Wasn’t it he who thought up the great swindle of the _____________________?
At the beginning of the Odyssey the first recollection of is character are two
________________
to
the
__________________________...two
tales
of
______________.
When ________________ is carried off to Troy he tries to evade his obligations by
pretending to be mad.
Odysseus is more likeable than _______________ and ________________ and
______________; he is more __________________.
(p. 952-953)
________________ and _______________give us insight into human nature.
Most _______________ and myths explore a range of human emotions, including
_____________, __________________, _____________________, _____________, and
________________________.
Epics and myths are ____________________ because they have the characteristics of a
good ________________.
They are imaginative,
___________________.
___________________,
inspiring,
and
completely
An _________________ is a long narrative poem written about a _______________
subject.
A _________________ is a traditional story of anonymous origin that deals with
____________, _____________________, and ____________________, and
supernatural events.
The ___________________________ is the central character is an epic.
He/she is driven by his/her ___________________ to save his country or its people
during a time of ________________________.
An ______________________ is a thing, person, or pattern of circumstances that appears
repeatedly in ________________________.
_____________________ have long been important in literature and ______________.
(p. 954-956)
Odysseus’s wife is _____________________.
While epic heroes are traditionally _______, women can also be heroes.
At one time, female heroes were called _________________.
A _______________________________ is a person of great ability who often comes to
_______________ because of a ______________ within his or her character.
This fault, the _______________________________, is often a characteristic that has
helped him or her achieve success: ______________________, ___________________,
_______________________, ________________________, or _________________.
An ________________ is a long narrative poem that recounts the ______________,
___________________, and travels of a heroic _________________, called the epic
hero.
Characteristics of Most Myths:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
The traditional epic hero is a _____________________, ______________________,
________________, and confident man with a thirst for ________________.
Most epic heroes, ____________________ included, are known for their intelligence,
________________________, and tremendous _____________________________.
Most epic heroes are __________________ speakers and can win over an audience with
ease.
They are deeply admired for their ability to use both ____________ and _____________
to defeat an ________________ or deal with any other ________________ that arises.
Epics often feature _____________ and __________________ that hold power over the
__________________ world.
Often it is the task of the epic hero to subdue a _________________ or appease the
_____________.
Perseus does this, as does _____________________.
(p.956-959)
Ancient Greek oral poets composed narratives and chanted them to _________________
accompaniment.
The greatest of these Greek poets was _______________.
His works include two of the earliest surviving epic poems – the _________________
and the ____________________.
Homer composed his epics around ____________ B.C.
Because Homer recited his poems he was known as a ______________.
Homer
repeatedly
refers
“________________________.”
to
the
goddess
_______________
as
The use of __________________ helped Homer and pleased his audience.
Since Homer’s time, ___________________ has been considered a _____________, or
type of literature just as __________________________, fiction, and drama are genres.
In an _______________________, the poet-narrator begins by stating the tale’s subject
and asking for poetic ____________________from a guiding spirit.
Legend has it that Homer was a ______________ man who lived on the rocky
_____________ island of ________________.
The __________________ and the Odyssey are set during and after the siege of
_________________.
Homer’s audience was especially fascinated by tales of the _____________________ era
of 500 years earlier.
Myceanaean walls had been toppled by a race of giants known as the
_________________.
Homer’s audiences believed the stories were ______________.
The __________________ describes the wanderings of the _______________ general
________________________ on his return from the city of ________________ in what
is now northwest Turkey to his home island of __________________, off the west coast
of Greece.
The events take place shortly before the year ________________.
This great siege, which the poet claimed lasted __________ years, ended with the
destruction of the city of ______________ by a huge Greek army.
The mastermind behind the army’s success was a Greek ________________ known for
his ___________________, but more for his cunning: ____________________, hero of
the ______________________.