All Students
Read carefully Robert Fitzgerald’s English verse translation of Homer’s The Odyssey. Your
assessment over your reading will test your comprehension of plot and character in great detail.
Ensure that you read to retain detail via annotations or note taking. This summer-reading test will
occur the first week of school.
Further, complete at least the assignment that corresponds to your last name. This is homework
that I will collect the first day of school.
Epic Hero (Last names A-G)
An epic hero is a particular type of hero most often found in epics. The epic hero is brave,
trustworthy, friendly, strong, resourceful, and reverent. An epic hero will battle evil, face
extraordinary foes, take a cyclical journey, establish a legacy, use special / named weapons, and
gather followers.
I. Identify one character from a story other than The Odyssey who fits all of the
characteristics above. Briefly explain how that character fits each characteristic. (Try
to be original, but if you get stuck, think about Frodo from Lord of the Rings or
Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz.)
II. Which one character from The Odyssey would be the best candidate for an epic hero?
Provide a specific example for each characteristic this character demonstrates; explain
any characteristics that you are unable to answer.
E.H. characteristic
Cyclical journey
(round trip journey
that fixes problems /
restores home)
Trustworthy
Friendly
Strong
Character from other story
Character from Odyssey
Resourceful
Reverent (religiously
respectful)
Battles evil
Faces extraordinary
(superhuman) foes
Brave
Establishes legacy
Special / named
weapons
Gathers followers
Epic Simile (Last names H-N)
An epic simile is, like an ordinary simile, an indirect comparison between two unlike nouns,
often using such cue words as like, as, such as, more… than, and so. An epic simile is often a
longer descriptive phrase, and will always compare something epic (a god, a superhuman, a
monster, an epic battle, etc.) to something everyday that the audience will understand. For
example, in The Iliad, Homer gives a long description of a raging river (something everyday that
his audience would know) and then compares it to the attack of Achilles (something epic that his
audience would not know).
(A) Find 12 epic similes in The Odyssey (each from a different book). For each, identify the
book and line numbers, the tenor (the epic noun) and the vehicle (the everyday noun).
Book / line numbers
Tenor (epic noun)
Vehicle (everyday noun)
(B) Choose three of the similes above and re-write them using modern vehicles (everyday
nouns). Be sure your modern vehicles are clearly modern (things that did not exist in
Homer’s day).
Epithets (Last names O-Z)
An epithet is a short descriptive noun phrase that re-names and describes a character in an epic.
For example, Zeus is sometimes referred to as “The father who marshals ranks of storm clouds.”
(A) Find twelve epithets from The Odyssey (other than the one above). Identify the book and
line number, the epithet itself, and the person or god characterized by the epithet.
Book and line number
Epithet
Person characterized
(B) Create your own original epithets characterizing five modern public figures (politicians,
celebrities, etc.). Be careful not to use common modern epithets (i.e. Michael Jackson /
King of Pop).
Public figure
Epithet