This is just a sample of a few of the many exercises and activities arising from a study of writing revolving around Greek myths and culture.
First Lesson:
The first lesson should involve the students in reading, writing and speaking about the text in a collective lesson. The teacher should choose a passage of about 10-15 lines from the
Odyssey
, lines the teacher finds edifying, vivid, intriguing, or interesting in any way. One recommendation would be the introductory lines invoking the muse and summarizing the epic to follow. Next, the teacher should find a handful of other translations of the same passage, translations of various periods and styles (see above). Students should be given a copy of each.
The teacher will proceed to ask individual students to read each translation aloud. Once this has been accomplished, the teacher should open a controlled discussion of the various word choices and the impression left by the choice of line, rhythm, etc. General remarks should cite details.
The next step is to make a choice between all of the translations to focus on one in particular. How the choice is made is up to the teacher and students, but for the purposes of this exercise, a difficult version would be best, such as Chapman’s.
Once a translation has been chosen, the students should proceed to write it down verbatim in their own script. They must copy the text exactly as it is written. Mistakes will be marked with a red pen, points docked, etc.
The next step is collective. The teacher will ask the students to translate the passage into clear, modern diction, accurate in meaning, perhaps even poetically sonorous, but they may not use any of the words from the version they are “translating.” This may take more than one day. It involves word by word analysis, with the teacher at the board writing down the choices made by the students. The teacher should be very exacting. If students propose words that do not quite fit, the teacher should constructively identify the differences in connotation, giving hints here and there where appropriate. Teachers should pay special attention to insure a correct reading of the syntax.
The assignment will be evaluated once students hand in both the accurate manuscript and the new translation.
Last, but certainly not least, the students will be required to memorize the passage. For this exercise, the individual students may choose from among the handful of translations given out earlier. Preferences will make for variation. Upon the deadline for memorization students will be required both to recite the passage and accurately write it down.
To ground this lesson in specific words, the teacher should select ten or so vital words with their synonyms, to be studied by the students for a quiz. Some literary terms will need to be discussed, such as epic, episode, dactylic hexameter, simile, hero, epithet, journey motif, etc.
This lesson demonstrates the essential method, with numerous variations, which will be used to teach this unit.
Second Lesson:
____
This lesson should prove more “fun” to the students, for it involves more creativity. Students will be asked to select a passage from the
Odyssey
that they particularly enjoy. The passage should be from 15-30 lines, more or less. The assignment will be to write an arrangement of that passage as a new poem. The poem may be better termed a variation or imitation.
As an introduction to the poem the students will write a few paragraphs on the passage they chose, why they chose it, what about the passage attracted them, what do they imagine it means in the context of the larger epic, etc. They may focus on a theme, a character, some imagery, dialogue, a song within a song, a foreshadowing, etc. Any episode may be condensed or expanded. A wonderful lesson may be found in W.H. Auden’s
Shield of Achilles
, for instance.
I offer as an example a variation I composed on the descent of Hermes from Olympus, bringing the message to Calypso that Odysseus must at last be allowed to leave. Homer provides a vivid description of his air and seaborne journey. The lines may be found on pages 82 and 83 of Fitzgerald’s translation, Book 5.
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Hermes straps on sandals of gold, winged
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To fly with round the spheres of god & man;
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Bearing purposes, his proposals show him
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Where he wants to be, surreptitiously,
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At once. Sleepwalkers waken confused, talk
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To themselves aloud, walk off unaware,
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While a wary few know the gain he supplies,
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For paths of his courses pain resources,
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Properly to name, miraculous as
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He is. He’s a gull in scaled-down fishflesh,
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Upon a fish which flies above the froth
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Of a school, like a wish, then he thrusts him-
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Self awash through pipes, surfs the crashing jumps
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Of wave, free as a dolphin, a porpoise
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Prey to no one, enveloped by the sea.
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Submarine, he torpedoes to the surface,
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Erupts out of the ocean as he rises
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Upon surfcrash crests, divides with his will
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Each rush, shocking with his walk the shore’s ground,
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Solidity, the beach & seawall, un-
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Scathed, to the opening of her cave’s mouth.
This poem plays with the imagery of the original, enhancing the texture of sight and sound bound together like the sky and sea in the passage. The mysterious power of Hermes may be looked at from an allegorical distance, or examined for the use of alliteration, assonance, metaphor and simile, and the use of blank verse.
Particular passages of interest will present themselves as the class progresses through the
Odyssey
. Teachers should evaluate student efforts by considering their creativity, the understanding they convey through their poem, the presentation, and the overall amount of work reflected in the composition. Sentence structure and spelling should be marked closely with a red pen. Suggestions & constructive criticisms should be worded as objectively as possible. Focus should be on the poem itself and the words used.
Third Lesson:
This lesson will extend over the entire course of the unit. Once a week a pair of students will stand at the podium and give presentations on selections from the reading. For instance, on Monday of week 1 students A and B each offer ten-minute presentations on Chapter I. The next Monday, students C and D offer presentations on Chapter 2, and so on.
The teacher should make the order random or alphabetical, but certainly there should be an inflexible, definite order, pre-published in the syllabus so that students are aware of their assigned time. The presentations should start in the second week of class, after a preliminary week of introductory presentations on various topics by the teacher. The teacher should give an example of what is expected. There are countless topics fertile for investigation, issues of theme, character development, geography and history, genre, figurative language, use of foreshadowing through bird signs, hospitality, the role of disguises, etc.
The course should allow for each student to do at least one presentation, if not a few. The presentations should be formally composed and handed in after they are presented. They should include general information about the topic, quotes from the text where the topic may be found, and at least one use of critical authority.