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Literary Term
Epic Hero
Epithet
Definition
The epic hero has largerthan-life powers, but is not
perfect due to a flaw. This
hero has to complete a long
journey and is faced with
many trials and tribulations
along the way.
A description that often
accompanies someone’s
name.
Example
Odysseus is the epic hero in
the Greek epic called The
Odyssey.
Achilles is the epic hero in the
Greek epic called The Illiad.
Andre the Giant
Zeus, son of Cronos
The bewitching nymph, Calypso
Odysseus, the man of twists and
turns
Cool-headed Telemachus
Literary Term
Homeric Simile
Description
Homer loves similes and they
can be found everywhere in
the Odyssey. Homer often
expands upon a simile,
putting it into motion so to
speak; and these expanded
similes are called Homeric or
epic similes.
Example
“Weak as the doe that beds
down her fawns in a mighty
lion's den . . . but back the lion
comes to his own lair and the
master deals both fawns a
ghastly, bloody death, just what
Odysseus will deal that mob ghastly death.”
How do we know it’s a simile?
What is Homer comparing?
The doe putting her fawn in
danger is like Odysseus
putting his men in danger.
Literary
Term
Extended
Metaphor
Description
a metaphor that continues
over several lines of
poetry
Example
Will Ferrell's Extended Metaphor: The
University of Life
"I graduated from the University of Life.
All right? I received a degree from the
School of Hard Knocks. And our colors
were black and blue, baby. I had office
hours with the Dean of Bloody Noses. All
right? I borrowed my class notes from
Professor Knuckle Sandwich and his
Teaching Assistant, Ms. Fat Lip Thon
Nyun. That’s the kind of school I went to
for real, okay?"
(Will Ferrell, Commencement Address at
Harvard University, 2003)
Literary
Term
Personification
Hyperbole
Description
Example
“Dawn spread on the eastern sky/ her
fingers of pink light”
animals, ideas, and
inanimate objects are
given human character,
"East and South Winds clashed, and
traits, abilities, or reactions the raging West and North/sprung
from the heavens, roiled heaving
breakers up."
exaggerated language
that distorts facts by
making them much bigger
than they are.
Think of “Your Mama”
jokes
Odysseus states: “My son, my son,
the unluckiest man alive!'"
Literary
Term
Foreshadowing
Description
clues
provides early ________
about where the plot is
headed. It is a storytelling
technique that gets viewers
involved and thinking about
the plot unfolding before them
because they are picking up
hints about what may soon
happen.
Example
The foreboding that Odysseus
feels as he heads toward the
Cyclops's cave, which seems to
prompt him to take the wine
along, foreshadows his
upcoming encounter with
Polyphemus and the need for
trickery to prevail.
“Of this wine I filled a great
wineskin full . . . for my
proud heart had an idea
that presently I would
encounter a man who was
endowed with great
strength, and wild . . .
Literary
Term
Description
Example
In Media Res
To begin in the ___________
middle of a Iron Man – the movie showed what
story; tells how the character got happened the 36 hours prior
to where he/she is
Odysseus tells King Alcinous about all
the islands that he encountered before
he can go home to Penelope
Theme
What the author wants to say
about the human experience.
Flashback
interrupting the chronological
order of a story and telling
something that occurred earlier
in time
The Odyssey emphasizes the themes
of adventure, brains over brawn,
loyalty, familial love, perseverance,
etc.
This occurs when Odysseus tells his
stories of adventure to King Alcinous
of the Phaeacians at the beginning of
the poem.
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Narrative
Descriptive
Expository
Persuasive
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Tells a story
Uses characters, dialogue
Has a plot with a climax and resolution
 Beginning
 Middle
 End
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Describes in great detail
Uses the five senses
 Taste
 Smell
 Touch
 Sight
 Hearing
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Explains something to the reader
May include directions or “how to”
information
May explain why or how something was
done
History books and science books and math
books contain expository writing
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Convinces the reader to do something or
believe a certain way
Commercials are persuasive writing
Politicians’ speeches are persuasive writing
Letters to government officials or businesses
may be persuasive writing
a. narrative
b. descriptive
c. expository
d. persuasive
a. narrative
b. descriptive
c. expository
d. persuasive
a. narrative
b. descriptive
c. expository
d. persuasive
a. narrative
b. descriptive
c. expository
d. persuasive
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Loyal son of Odysseus
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Was a baby when Odysseus left for Troy
Helps his father fight against the suitors
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One of Penelope’s suitors
Very arrogant
First to be killed
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King of Ithaca and hero of the Trojan War
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Is away from home for 20 years
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In order to enter his home undetected,
Athena turns him into a begger
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Messenger of the gods
Protects Odysseus from Circe’s honey wine
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Faithful wife of Odysseua
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Holds off the suitors by weaving a shroud
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Odysseus sought him out in Hades for a
prophecy
Blind prophet
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Cyclopes that Odysseus and his men blind
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Goddess who turns crewmen of Odysseus
into animals
Tells Odysseus where to find the blind
prophet Tiresias.