January 9, 2011 - January 13, 2011 9th Grade Honors English Agenda

Monday, January 9th:
Begin reading THE ODYSSEY: A Son Searches for His Father
Act out the scenes.
Keep a reading log!
The reading log should have:
A brief summary of the chapter we have read
Vocabulary words and their definitions
Identify any figurative language examples, and translate them (write what you think they mean).

Tuesday, January 10th:
Your Vocabulary Unit 4 is due today. We will go over this in class. Remember: you cannot turn in work after we have gone over it in class. If you turn it in after we have gone over it, it will not be accepted.
Read THE ODYSSEY: The Island of Calypso
For tonight: reread the passage describing the island of Calypso. Using the description of the island illustrate Calypso's cave and the area outside her cave. This is will be due on Thursday, when we will have a gallery walk of your work.
Be sure to keep a reading log of each chapter (or book) we read.
The reading log should have:
A brief summary of the chapter we have read
Vocabulary words and their definitions
Identify any figurative language examples, and translate them (write what you think they mean).

Wednesday, January 11th:
Warm-ups: Pair up and choose three words from your Unit 4 Vocabulary and write one sentence with an adverbial clause for each vocabulary word. You will write the three sentences on a shared paper and post it on the wall. We will have a gallery walk around the room to look at the vocabulary/adverbial clause sentences.
Read THE ODYSSEY: Princess Nausicaa
Be sure to keep a reading log of each chapter (or book) we read.
The reading log should have:
A brief summary of the chapter we have read
Vocabulary words and their definitions
Identify any figurative language examples, and translate them (write what you think they mean).

Thursday, January 12th:
Continue reading THE ODYSSEY: Princess Nausicaa
Be sure to keep a reading log of each chapter (or book) we read.
The reading log should have:
A brief summary of the chapter we have read
Vocabulary words and their definitions
Identify any figurative language examples, and translate them (write what you think they mean).

Friday, January 13th:
Break into groups of four and choose five words from the Unit 4 Vocabulary. You will either create a song and dance, or a skit (written and rehearsed) using the five words. You must correctly use the words, show the meaning of the words through the context, and have the word written with its definition on a poster for the audience. You will have approximately fifteen minutes to create this "word study".
Read THE ODYSSEY: I AM ODYSSEUS, the SON of LAERTES!
Be sure to keep a reading log of each chapter (or book) we read.
The reading log should have:
A brief summary of the chapter we have read
Vocabulary words and their definitions
Identify any figurative language examples, and translate them (write what you think they mean).

December 12, 2011 - December 16, 2011 English 9 A Honors

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December 12, 2011 – December 16, 2011

Weekly Agenda for 9^th Grade Honors English

Monday, December 12^th:

Test over The Trojan War

Go over in class

Tuesday, December 13^th:

CAHSEE Diagnostic

Begin reading THE ODYSSEY

Watch film

Wednesday, December 14^th:

Please bring your Vocabulary Book

Unit 4 will be assigned today. This will be due when you return in January.

Continue to read THE ODYSSEY

Thursday, December 15^th:

Please bring your HOLT HANDBOOK

Grammar Review: pages 156 – 157: Verb Tense

Homework: pages 160 – 161; exercises 4 and 5

This will be due on Friday, December 16^th:

Read THE ODYSSEY

Friday, December 16^th:

Go over your grammar homework: HOLT HANDBOOK; pages 160 – 161; exercises 4 and 5

Watch THE ODYSSEY

DECEMBER 5, 2011 - DECEMBER 9, 2011
WEEKLY AGENDA FOR 9TH GRADE HONORS ENGLIISH

Monday, December 5th:
Reviewed Part 2 of THE TROJAN WAR
Illustrate the shield Hephaestus created for Achilles

Tuesday, December 6th:
Using the vocabulary words from Unit 2, write three sentences using subordinate clauses.
Review Part 3 and Part 4 of THE TROJAN WAR.
Break into groups of four to act out scenes from Part 3 and Part 4.

Wednesday, December 7th:
Test over THE TROJAN WAR
Break into groups of four, and create either an improv, a skit or a song and dance using the vocabulary words. The creation must use five of the vocabulary words and show through context how to pronounce the words and how to use the words. Each group must also create posters which spell out the words, the parts of speech and the definition of the words.
Please bring your HOLT HANDBOOK; Adverbial Clauses; pages 104 - 106; exercise 4 will be assigned today. This will be due on Friday, December 9th.

Thursday, December 8th:
Begin reading THE ODYSSEY
The packet will be passed out today.

Friday, December 9th:
Continue reading THE ODYSSEY
The grammar assignment, HOLT HANDBOOK, Adverbial Clause, pages 104 - 106; exercise 4 is due today.

November 28, 2011 - December 2, 2011
Weekly Agenda for 9th Grade Honors English

Monday, November 28th:
Go over Vocabulary Unit 2 and the subordinate clause homework
Vocabulary Unit 2 Homework: Grammar; this will be due on Tuesday, November 29th.

Tuesday, November 29th:
Warm-up:
Using the vocabulary words from Unit 2, write three sentences with subordinate clauses.
Read excerpts from THE TROJAN WAR; Part 1
Vocabulary Unit 2 Homework: Reading and multiple choice questions; this will be due on Wednesday, November 30th.

Wednesday, November 30th:
Warm-up:
Using the vocabulary words from Unit 2, write three sentences with subordinate clauses.
Read excerpts from THE TROJAN WAR; Part 2

Thursday, December 1st:
Break into groups of four, and create either an improv, a skit, or a song and dance using five vocabulary words from Unit 2. The creation must use five vocabulary words, use the words correctly in a sentence or song lyric and show the meaning of the word in context. You must also write the words and their definitions on a poster.
Read excerpts from THE TROJAN WAR; Part 3

Friday, December 2nd:
Read excerpts from THE TROJAN WAR; Part 4
For homework:
GRAMMAR: HOLT HANDBOOK; Adverbial Clause; pages; exercise. This will be due on Tuesday, December 6th.

November 21, 2011 - November 23, 2011 English 9 A Honors

9^th Grade English Honors

Week of November 21, 2011 – November 23, 2011

Monday, November 21^st:

Finished reading “The Cask of Amontillado”

Worked on finding the original sentences from the modernized sentences from “The Cask of Amontillado”.

Collected the homework from last week: Unit 2 Vocabulary and the Subordinate Clause homework from the HOLT HANDBOOK.

Tuesday, November 22^nd:

Go over the Vocabulary and Irony packet from “The Cask of Amontillado”.

Read bio; “The True Story Behind ‘The Cask of Amontillado’”; and “The Strange Death of Edgar Allen Poe”.

Wednesday, November 23^rd:

Go over the homework assignments: Unit 2 Vocabulary and the subordinate clause homework from the HOLT HANDBOOK.

Test of the Great Bow, Death in the Palace

THE TEST OF THE GREAT BOW

Penelope tells the suitors that she will marry the one suitor who can string Odysseus’s great bow and then shoot an arrow through twelve ax-helve sockets.

Eumaeus is a swineherd and Odysseus reveals his true identity to him and to the cowherd after he is convinced that they are loyal to him.

Odysseus is making plans and giving orders to the cowherd and to the swineherd to take command of the great hall where the drunken suitors are eating and drinking. The two herders are instructed to keep the women locked in their quarters and for them not to leave their quarters regardless of any noise they may hear coming from the great hall.

Telemachus has taken the suitors’ weapons and locked them outside the great hall.

Still dressed as an old beggar, Odysseus asks if he may participate in the competition of the great bow. Penelope agrees to accept him as a competitor for her hand.

When Odysseus reaches for the bow, Zeus sends a thunderbolt to express his approval.

Chronus is the father of Zeus and is the father of time. There was no time before Chronus. This is where time comes from.
Cronus was told that he would be over thrown by one of his children and so he starting killing his children as they were born from his forehead. Zeus managed to avoid his fate and kill Cronus and assume the throne of the gods.

This is where we get the word chonological, chronology and chronometer which refers to time.

DEATH AT THE PALACE

ANTINOUS is the ringleader of the drunken, insolent and rude suitors.
He strings the arrow and then lets it loose where it whizzes perfectly through the twelve ax-helve socket. The men strangely enough don’t seem to notice. Perhaps they are too drunk? Odysseus then shrugs off his beggar’s clothes, and his son, Telemachus takes his position next to his father at the front of the great hall.

Odysseus pours out a rain of arrows and reaching for the “cruel head” of an arrow for the rudest of the suitors, Antinous who seduced Penelope’s maids, turning them against her, turns the weapon on Antinous. The arrow catches him right in the throat as he is lifting a beautiful golden chalice of wine to his lips.
(“And did he dream of death?” as he lifted the cup to his lips to drink wine that did not belong to him?)

Figurative Language:
Personification:
The cup fell from his SHOCKED HAND: Can a hand be shocked?

Revelry: partying, merry making, having fun

Odysseus’s arrow penetrates his neck and punches all the way through to the quiver (the front of the arrow is sticking out the back of Antinous’s neck and just the quiver is sticking out the front of his neck).

The suitors think it’s a wild, unintended shot and begin looking around for their weapons to kill the annoying old beggar but when they realize their weapons are gone, they can only yell and scream their outrage at the old man.

The rowdy suitors are angry and begin yelling, “Foul! Unfair! You shot the best man!”

Then the suitors become deathly afraid as it slowly dawns on them as to who this old beggar might actually be.

Metaphor: Sickly green fear pulled at their entrails (guts).

Eurymachus, the self appointed speaker for the suitors, steps forward and does what weasels always try to do – weasel out of something by blaming somebody else. In this case, it’s the dead guy – Antinous. He promises that the suitors will give restitution but Odysseus says that they fought their way into his palace, let them fight their way out now.

Trapped in the great hall without their weapons, the suitors are cut down left and right by Odysseus, Telemachus and the two faithful herders.

Athena sends a thundercloud in the shape of her aegis (shield) sailing through the smoky hall where many of the suitors are lying dead or dying in pools of blood. The rest, the few who are still standing, seeing her great shield taking form in a storm cloud in the hall, become mad with fear and try to stampede out the massive doors.

Homeric Simile:
And the suitors, mad with fear, at her great sign, stampeded like stung cattle by a river…” and “after them the attackers wheeled as terrible as falcons….”

After all the suitors are killed, Telemachus then calls the maids from their quarters and orders them to drag the bodies of their lovers outside to be buried in a mass grave and then to clean up the blood stained floor. After the maids are finished with their horrible work, Telemachus then hangs them all – all who were disloyal to their mistress, Penelope.

Hide: skin of an animal.

Reunion of Odysseus and Penelope

THE REUNION OF ODYSSEUS AND PENELOPE

DOES SHE IMMEDIATELY ACCEPT HIM AS HER HUSBAND?
NO.

WHY IS SHE STILL SUSPICIOUS?
SHE HAS KEPT HERSELF GUARDED AND WARY FOR SO MANY YEARS AGAINST THE SUITORS, THAT IT IS DIFFICULT FOR HER TO BE WARM AND ACCEPTING.

PENELOPE REMEMBERS THE FIGHT BETWEEN HER AND TELEMACHUS OVER HER INABILITY TO ACCEPT ODYSSEUS.

ONE MINUTE SHE THINKS HE DOES LOOK LIKE HER HUSBAND, BUT THE NEXT MINUTE ALL SHE SEES IS AN OLD BLOODIED SOLDIER.
SHE THINKS THE GODS MIGHT BE PLAYING A TRICK ON HER.

THE CLEVER PENELOPE DECIDES TO TEST HIM BY TELLING HIM:

TO MOVE THEIR BED OUT OF THE BEDROOM SO THAT HE MIGHT SLEEP ON IT.

ONLY THREE PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT THE BEDROOM AND THE BED. THEY ARE ODYSSEUS WHO BUILT THE BED AND THE BEDROOM; ACTORIS, THE SERVANT, AND OF COURSE, PENELOPE.

WHEN ODYSSEUS FLIES INTO A RAGE, SHE KNOWS THAT HE IS INDEED THE ONE.

HE RAGES THAT HE BUILT THE ROOM AND THE BED AROUND AN OLIVE TREE. THE OLIVE TREE WAS USED AS A BED POST. HE PLANED THE TREE, CUT OFF THE BRANCHES, AND THEN BUILT THE WALLS FROM THE TREE. THEN HE MADE THREE MORE BEDPOSTS LIKE THE OLIVE TREE AND STRETCHED PLIANT OXHIDE BETWEEN THE BEDPOSTS TO MAKE THE BED. HE INLAID SILVER, GOLD AND IVORY IN THE BEDPOSTS. THERE IS NO WAY TO MOVE THE BED WITHOUT DISMANTLING THE BED. ONLY SHE AND ODYSSEUS KNOW THAT.

HOMERIC SIMILE:

NOW FROM HIS BREAST INTO HIS EYES, THE ACHE OF LONGING MOUNTED, AND HE WEPT AT LAST, HIS DEAR WIFE, DEAR AND FAITHFUL, IN HIS ARMS, LONGED FOR AS THE SUN-WARMED EARTH IS LONGED FOR BY A SWIMMER SPENT IN ROUGH WATER WHERE HIS SHIP WENT DOWN….

WHO IS THE SWIMMER? WHO IS THE WARM, LONGED FOR BEACH?

The Test of the Great Bow and Death in the Palace

THE TEST OF THE GREAT BOW

Comprehension Questions:

 Where is Penelope at the beginning of this chapter?

What is she retrieving from her closet?

What does she tell the suitors?

What is Penelope's attitude to the suitors? 

What is the reaction of the cowherd and the swineherd to Penelope's announcement?

What does Odysseus say to the cowherd and the swineherd?

How does he convince them that he is who he says he is?

What does he promise them in return for their help?

Odysseus tells the swineherd two things to do. What are they? Be specific! 

Odysseus tells the cowherd three things to do. What are they?  Be specific!

What is the reaction of the suitors to Odysseus taking the bow to string it?

What is Odysseus compared to as he strings the bow?

What grim joke and code does Odysseus say after he strings the bow?

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE:
Simile:
A bellow like a bull’s vaunt in a meadow
Bellow: a loud, strong roar issuing from the mouth of a cow, a bull, a man or some other type of large animal.
Assonance: repetition of similar vowels
Consonance: repetition of similar consonants
Personification:
Coughing death conveys the powerful and disturbing imagery of a horrible way to die. The arrows are definitely weapons capable of causing suffering and death.
Penelope tells the suitors that who ever can string Odysseus’s bow – that man she will marry. However, only Odysseus is strong enough to string the bow!

Notes!

Cronus – god of time; Cronus was the leader of the Titans, who predated the gods.  Cronus gave birth to the Greek gods whom he destroyed upon their birth for he was told he would be killed by one of his children. Zeus conspired with his mother to kill his father, Cronus, and Zeus became the king of the Greek gods.

Chronological – written in the order of occurrence

Chronology – the order of events in the time of their occurrence

Chronicles – a factual written account of important or historical events in the order of their occurrence.

Reread The Test of the Bow, and find one example of Homeric simile:

Simile:

Line 1089

“Then a rasping sound as those bright doors the key had sprung gave way – a bellow like a bull’s vaunt in a meadow – “

The sound of the key opening a door is like a huge bull’s bellow which gives an indication of how loud and strong the lock is.

Page 939

Line1185 – 1193

Homeric Simile:

But the man skilled in all ways of contending…..and sang a swallow’s note.”

The Homeric simile shows the ease and mastery with which Odysseus strings the arrow.

                        Question: What is Odysseus being compared to in lines 1185 – 1193?

Vocabulary:
Borings: holes drilled into wood by termites, which are small insects that destroy wood by boring or drilling into the wood. 

Smote: (past tense of to smite) to hit or strike

Omen: a sign, which is interpreted to mean that something evil that has been predicted or prophesied is about to happen.

Allusion: reference to other literature or mythology, usually Greek, Roman, biblical or Shakespearean, in a book or story.

Example of allusion: “Crooked minded Cronus” which is a reference to Zeus’ slaying of his father, Cronus, a Titan, in Greek mythology, who was also the father of time.

Death at the Palace

Vagabond: beggar
Embossed: engraved
Wiliest: cleverest (wily) Wily coyote
Revelry: party; loud partying
Amid: in the middle of
Throng: a crowd; a group; a mob
Foe: enemy
Crimson: red
Runnels: streams
Craned: straining one’s neck
Jostled: elbowing each other for room
Shocked hand: personification and synecdoche (part of a whole)
Personification:
Sickly green fear pulled at their entrails
Entrails: intestines
Aegis: a shield or a sign which acts as a protection.
Stampede: when a large crowd of people or herd of cattle traveling in one direction tramples everything in its path.
Read from 1287 to the bottom of the page; then write what happened. There are two examples of similes in the passage and the passage as a whole is rich in imagery.
What are the suitors compared to when they see Athena’s “aegis” (her shield which is her symbol)? “And the suitors mad with fear at her great sign stampeded like stung cattle by a river….” Like is used to compare, which makes this a simile.
What were the attackers compared to as they went after the suitors?
Falcons: hunting birds that are fierce and prey (hunt) on smaller birds. They are large and fierce hunters.
Talons: claws on an animal or bird.
Eyries: eagle or falcon nests built high in the mountains.
Chutes: long funnels or tunnels that travel down. A laundry chute funnels (drops) clothes to the laundry room in the basement.
Veer: to turn sharply.
Cower: to hunch one’s shoulders or curl up in a ball in anticipation of being hit.
Myths: used for entertainment and used to rationalize things the ancients couldn’t explain.

The Beggar and the Faithful Dog

Class Notes on THE BEGGAR and ARGOS, THE DOG

Why would Homer include the story of Argos in The Odyssey?

The dog meant something in the past of Odysseus.

Odysseus’s state is being compared to a dog.

The dog's condition is a symbol of the decay of Ithaca during Odysseus’ absence.

What does this reveal about Odysseus?

He is a softy. He is kind and compassionate but he is capable of controlling his feelings.
Is there any irony?

The dog is the only creature who recognized Odysseus.

We find the dog on a garbage heap waiting to die.

The dog is a symbol of what the suitors want to do with Odysseus and Telemachus.

Reread Eumaeus’ description of the dog. This is ironic because Eumaeus says that the owner of the dog is dead, not realizing that Odysseus, the owner, is standing there listening to him.

Personification: Giving human characteristics to an inanimate object.
Example:
Misery has him (Argos) in its leash.
 Eumaeus’ whole passage is an analogy between the state of Ithaca and the sad state of Argos, the dog.

Create your own personification!
Love held me in his embrace!
The trees danced in the wind.
The machine gun barked in reply.
The Ferrari purred under the gloved hand of its owner.

What do you think about Eumaeus’ statement about servants?

Do you think that slavery demeans humans and the very act of enslavement robs people of their humanity and deprives them of the highest qualities which distinguish us as humans?

Just because one is enslaved does not mean that one is not capable of the highest intellectual achievement.

The quality of a society can be seen by how it treats its weakest, most vulnerable members – children, babies, the old, the poor and the animals.

Return of the Hero

Odysseus Returns to Ithaca

Now, Odysseus concludes his tale of his ceaseless wanderings. This is the end of the flashback and we are now in "real time". The Phaeacians are so moved by his story - and he is after all one of the greatest of the Greek heroes - that they build for him a magic ship that will speed him home quickly. Odysseus lands on the beach of Ithaca after sailing home from Phaeacia on the magic ship. Disguised as a beggar, he makes his way to the hut of Eumaeus, his faithful old swineherd who doesn’t recognize him. But, despite Eumaeus poverty, he behaves as a gracious host and offers Odysseus his humble meal which Odysseus gratefully accepts. While they are eating, they hear the sound of dogs snuffling and the footsteps of a man approaching. It is Telemachus, Odysseus’ son who is returning from his year’s journey searching for his father.

Irony: Both father and son return to Ithaca after long absences on the same day.

Irony: The son who is searching for his father, doesn’t find him until he returns home.

Telemachus does not recognize his father, of course, for he hasn’t seen his father since he, Telemachus, was a baby. But Odysseus quickly sees the resemblance and when Eumaeus calls him by name, he realizes that this young man is his son.

Telemachus also acts like the gracious host to the impoverished looking beggar sitting in Eumaeus’s hut, never realizing that it is his own father.

Vocabulary:
Lithe: limber, flexible
Candor: honesty, frankness

Telemachus tells the old beggar (Odysseus) that he will try to help him as much as he can but the suitors are treacherous and wish to kill him (Telemachus). Telemachus sends Eumaeus to Penelope to tell her that her son has arrived home. The two men are left alone.

Athena cannot bear the suspense any longer and working her magic, makes Odysseus look younger, handsomer, taller, more massive and well, more like a movie star. Telemachus is shocked and afraid by the sudden transformation and thinks that Odysseus must be a god and begs him not to hurt him, but Odysseus tells him that “I am the father that your boyhood lacked.” When Telemachus still doesn’t believe him, Odysseus says that he is the only Odysseus who will ever come. Finally believing him, Telemachus embraces his father. Unleashing twenty long years of loneliness, Odysseus begins to sob as he throws his arms around his longed for son. The men sob like hawks whose nestlings have been killed by farmers.

Homeric Simile: “Salt tears rose from the wells of longing in both men, / And cries burst from both as keen and fluttering / as those of the great taloned hawk, / whose nestlings farmers take before they fly. // So helplessly they cried, pouring out tears, / and might have gone on weeping till sundown.

THE BEGGAR AND THE FAITHFUL DOG

When Odysseus and Eumaeus go to the Palace, they discover an old dog, Argos, lying on a huge dung pile, left there by the slaves to die. Odysseus recognizes the old dog as his beloved puppy whom he raised and hunted with before he left for the Trojan War. Now the dog is well over twenty years old, but the old dog remembers his master, and flattening his ears, and weakly wagging his tail he uses the last of his strength to crawl to his master and welcome him home. Odysseus wipes a tear away and struggles to control his emotions.

Eumaeus comments that Argos’ master trained him as a great hunting dog but left and is now dead in a far off place. When the dog was young the youth would take him out for hunts and he was the best hunting dog of all the pack, but now that he is old, he is forgotten and neglected by the slaves. Eumaeus says that when a person goes into slavery half of her/his humanity is taken away.

Happy that he has lived long enough to see his master return home, Argos closes his eyes in eternal sleep.

Literary Terms:
Personification: “Now misery has him in leash.”
Personification: Giving human characteristics to inanimate objects.

Can misery hold anything in a leash? No. But the image is powerful and conveys with great and multi-layered strength the tragedy and suffering of the dog who is in a leash not held by his beloved master, but by the cruel hand of misery.

Irony: Eumaeus does not realize that he is talking to Odysseus about the young Odysseus and his dog.

Irony: It is ironic that the only creature in Ithaca who immediately recognizes Odysseus is his old hunting dog.

Would Argos be treated this way if Odysseus had been there for the past twenty years?

What does this say about the state of the kingdom that an animal is neglected in this way?

What can one infer about a society by how it treats its animals and other weak, vulnerable members?

Book 19: Penelope, the Beggar and the Nurse

Maudlin: mawkish and overly sentimental.

Odysseus, transformed by Athena to look like an old beggar, makes his way to the palace where he finds his home in complete disarray, filled with drunken, rude suitors who are bankrupting his wife and son out of their inheritance. The suitors, thinking he is just some old beggar, are abusive to him and call him names and throw stools at him. Penelope apologizes for their rude behavior but tells him that she cannot control them. When Odysseus, disguised as an old beggar tells her that he has news of her husband, she eagerly tells him to meet with her late that night to tell her all.

The Island of Helios

Notes for THE ODYSSEY: THE ISLAND OF HELIOS

The reading log should include:
At least three vocabulary words + their definitions
Plus a brief summary of the plot
Plus any thing pertaining to theme; to character; to figurative language: metaphor, simile, personification, imagery, idioms, etc.
The following books should be included in this week's read log:
The Lotus Eaters
Calypso
The Cyclops
Circe
The Land of the Dead
Circe
The Sirens
Scylla
Charybdis
The Isle of Helios

When we finish THE ODYSSEY, the rest of the reading logs over Odysseus's return to Ithaca will be due.

Page 684:
The Isle of Helios:
The Isle of Helios is still in flashback. Odysseus is in the court of Alcinous telling the king and his people what happened to him and his men while they were on the island of the Sun God.
Vocabulary:
Gales: very rough gusts of wind; not quite hurricane level but very intense
Insidious: treacherous; more dangerous than apparent

You remember that Teireisias told Odysseus not to eat the cows and sheep of the god Helios. Odysseus warns his men not to eat these beeves and kines or they will be destroyed by the angry Helios for (once again) breaking the bonds that tie the host and guests.
The sheep and cattle are magical because they are never born and they never die.
Odysseus and his men land on the island due to bad weather. The men have barley (a type of grain) on board which they eat until eventually, after about a month, they run out. The men then try to fish and hunt but with no luck

But notice that the men are starving. Despite their best efforts at hunting and fishing, they catch nothing and are suffering the slow and agonizing death of starvation. The gods do nothing to help them. The gods could, if they wanted, send them rain and help them with their fishing and hunting, but they don’t; the gods ignore the starving men's pleas.

Odysseus is faring no better than his men. Mindful of Circes' warning, he stays away from Helios' sheep and cows. Odysseus is for the most part - when his arrogance doesn't get the best of him - a dutiful Greek who honors the gods and their laws, and although he is starving too along with the men, he goes off, away from his men to pray to these intractable, unfair gods. But starvation is exhausting, and while praying for deliverance from this suffering, he falls asleep. While he is sleeping the men mutiny; they ignore his orders. Their need for food overcomes their will and they kill Helios' sheep and the cows.
The theme of this particular story is pretty complex. (The theme is stated in a form of a sentence: it must have a subject, and should state what happens as a consequence of a character flaw or an action.)
The theme is a moral or the point of the story.
According to Greek philosophy, destiny is determined by the gods and cannot be changed.
Those who disobey the gods will be destroyed or punished.
Those who obey the gods will be spared.
Those who are tested by the gods and who are loyal to the gods will prevail.
The laws are pretty explicit and because the men disobeyed the gods' laws - even though the rules are unfair and the men are starving - the men must be punished. They must die.
After killing the cows and sheep and eating them, the men board the ship to sail home. But Helios, who sees all and hears all on earth, complains to Zeus about Odysseus's men. The men must forfeit their lives for killing the animals.
So Zeus sends lightning to strike the boat, setting it on fire and drowning all the men, except for Odysseus, whose life is spared as Circe and Teireisias foretold. Odysseus swims to the island of Calypso, which takes us back to the beginning of the story where we first meet Odysseus sitting on Calypso’s beach crying from homesickness.

The Land of the Dead

THE LAND OF THE DEAD

The Land of the Dead in THE ODYSSEY 

VOCABULARY: 
Heifer: a young cow who has not had a calf yet.

Ewe: female sheep (pronounced like "you".)

Assuage: to make someone feel better; to calm ruffled feelings.

To assuage her girlfriend's hurt feelings, she bought her a 25 dollar gift certificate.

Pommel: the horn on a saddle or the knob on the sword's handle.

Woe: Sadness; pain, suffering, emotional pain, troubles

Sovereign: ruler; autonomous or independent or self-governing

Lance heads: head of a sharp spear

Flay: to strip the skin off the body.

Scabbard: sheath; like a holster but it holds a sword

Implacable: Unforgiving; unshakable, unbending

Rancor: deep lingering anger, a grudge

Bereft: deep sense of grief over a profound loss

The Sirens: Harpies; half birds/half women
Mast: the biggest beam in the middle of the ship from which the sails are fastened.

Scylla: is a huge creature, she yelps like a dog; she has twelve legs; she has six heads on each neck and each head has three rows of serrated teeth. 

Across the narrow strait from Scylla is Charybdis, which is a huge whirlpool. 

Stealth: by clever secretiveness; clever and sneaky

Winnowing fan: a farming implement used to remove the useless outer husk of grain. It looks vaguely like an oar.

Oar: A boating implement used to paddle a boat; a paddle used to steer a boat.

Hecatombs: the sacrifice of 100 cattle to each of the gods.
Strait: a narrow stretch of water between two outcroppings of land. Steep banks of land from two different continents bracket the narrow stretch of land which flows between them.

Atone: to make amends; to make up for a sin one has committed
Court: to woo

Brief Overview:

Circe, the sorceress, sends Odysseus to the Land of the Dead to speak to Teiresias in order to learn his destiny.  He is instructed by Circe to bring a black ewe to sacrifice to entice the cold shadowy shades to him. The warm dark blood of the sacrificed lamb draws forth the dead, who hover ever closer to mortal Odysseus, who draws  his sword to ward them off until Teiresias appears.  After the blind soothsayer drinks his fill of the sacrificed blood, he intones what he foresees of Odysseus' fate. But he warns him that horrible monsters lie in his path towards home: the sirens, Scylla, Charybdis, and a dangerous place lies in his future, the isle of the Sun God, Helios.  

The blind prophet tells Odysseus that he and his men will land on the island of Thrinakia, the island of Helios, the Sun God, who drives his chariot (the sun) across the sky each day and who sees all and hears all - nothing escapes him. Teiresias tells him of Helios' beloved beeves and kines (cows and sheep),  which have never experienced birth nor death, and warns him not to eat of these animals, for if he does,  he will meet death at the hands of a vengeful god. However, Teiresias continues,  his men will eat the animals,  which will enrage Helios, who will demand that Zeus send a lightning bolt to set fire to Odysseus’s ship.  All of them will die except for Odysseus who will drift for years alone, finally returning home on a boat no one will recognize, to his home ransacked and plundered by insolent men.

Teiresias warns him that his way home is fraught with peril for Poseidon is “not to be shaken from your track, implacable, in rancor for the son whose eye you blinded.”

 He is told not to tell the men that they are going to die for he needs their cooperation in order to get home, which poses a moral dilemma for Odysseus. 

He will be adrift for many years after the deaths of his men, and when he does finally return home he will be met by rogues and rude, insolent men who have been plundering his home and harassing his wife, Penelope to marry one of them. He must fight his way past the suitors to win back both his home and his wife. 

Teiresias continues with his advice: After Odysseus arrives home and has defeated the suitors, he must take an oar and walk inland far from shore, where men eat their meat unseasoned with salt from the ocean.  He will know that he has arrived at the ordained place when a farmer, mistaking the oar for a farming implement, calls it a winnowing fan. There he will plant the oar in the land, far from Poseidon's domain, and sacrifice many heads of cattle, 100 hecatombs to each god and goddess on Olympus. If he does this, Odysseus will be blessed with a long life and a soft, gentle death surrounded by his loved lone.

While Odysseus is in the Land of the Dead, he is shocked to see his mother wandering among the shades.  Depressed by her son's long absence, she committed suicide, which of course, Odysseus knew nothing about.  When he tries to embrace her, he finds he cannot grasp her for she is without substance, being without corporal body. She asks why is he wandering in the dark world of the dead and urges him to leave this place and seek the sun kissed land and seas of the living. 

The dead spend the rest of eternity in the same state as they died. If someone has died by decapitation, he will remain headless (carrying his head under his arm) for all eternity. If someone dies in battle, his body pierced by an arrow,  he will forever walk around Elysian Fields with the arrow protruding from his body.  Strangely, the Greek concept of the dead closely corresponds to the modern Western view of the dead - clear, shadowy forms that look a lot like they did when they were alive, but transparent, insubstantial. Once the dead cross the River of Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, their memories of life above ground will wither away. 

Some of the language in THE ODYSSEY is difficult.  Let's look at the following stanza and analyze it.  This is one of the warning Teiresias gives him about the anger Poseidon still bears him: 

But in anguish lies ahead;

The god who thunders on the land prepares it,

Not to be shaken from your track, implacable,

In rancor for the son whose eye you blinded.

The subject is: the god who thunders on the land

Not to be shaken from your track refers to Poseidon (or the god)

Implacable: refers to the god

In rancor: in anger

Whose son: Poseidon's son

Back to the Isle of Circe

Back to the Island of Circe

Odysseus returns to the island of Circe after visiting the Land of the Dead

Circe gives further instructions to Odysseus on how to avoid the Sirens, get past Scylla and to avoid being sucked down by the whirlpool Charybdis.

Circe warns Odysseus about the Isle of Sirens which is where the Sirens live, hideous half-bird, half-women creatures who sing men to their deaths. Men who hear the beautiful singing of these wretched creatures will leap overboard to swim to the island to be closer to the music, but there they will die. The island is littered with the dried bones of those men who couldn’t resist the hideous creatures’ music.

Circe tells Odysseus that he should hear this music – he is after all Odysseus! - but that he should put beeswax in the ears of his men so they cannot hear. (Being ordinary men they would not be able to resist the Sirens’ music.) He should instruct the men to tie him firmly (to lash him) to the mast of the boat and if, while listening to the Sirens’ music, he is so overwhelmed by their seductive powers that he begs the men to untie him, then his men must tie him even more firmly to the mast.

Circe then warns him about the even more hideous Scylla. She has twelve legs, unjointed tentacles like an octopus. Scylla has serpent necks with six heads on each swaying neck. Each head has a mouth of triple serried teeth (like a knife).
Vocabulary:
Den: a cave where an animal or monster sleeps.
Abominably: So horrible as to be deserving of hatred.
Gullet: throat and esophagus (the tube that runs from the throat to the stomach).
From each ship she takes one man for each gullet.
Vocabulary:
Promontory: a high cliff overlooking a body of water.

Circe tells him that on the other side of the strait (narrow body of water between two land masses) lies Charybdis (Ka rib dis) which is a huge whirlpool that sucks down all the water three times a day and then vomits it back up (spews) like a geyser. Avoid it and stick as close as you can, Cire warns him, to the opposite side of the strait (close to Scylla) and away from Charybdis. Better you lose a few men than the entire ship.

Circe then warns him about the Island of Thrinakia, the Island of Helios, the sun god who sees all and hears all as he, in his chariot, drives his thundering steeds across the sky each day. Nothing escapes him. He keeps on his island cattle and sheep which he loves very much. These beeves and kine have never been born nor never die. Do not eat them, Circe warns Odysseus, for if you do you will meet certain death at the hands of the angry gods.

The Island of Circes

The Reading Log for The Enchantress Circe:

Glade: a clearing in the middle of a forest.

Beguiling: (be gi ling): bewitching, tricking through beauty and charm. Guile: trickery, slyness, subterfuge

Swinish: having to do with swines or pigs. Attributes of swines: greedy, gluttonous, dirty, muddy, fat, lazy

Ambrosial: drink of the gods; from the word ambrosia

Ambrosial: adjective meaning having to do with the gods or of Mount Olympus.

Tidbits: morsels, tiny little delicious bits of food

Fond: with affection, with liking

Fawned: to show excessive affection for someone

Pigsty: a pen where pigs are kept

Foreboding: a sense of doom

Odysseus sends 23 men on a scouting expedition to explore the island. The men find Circe's cave, which is filled with beautiful and exotic animals that seem very human. Beautiful wild animals look at the twenty three warriors with eyes which seem human, unsettling so, which seem to plead with them to do something…. The men are disturbed by these animals with eyes which seem to hold the light of human intelligence, but the men shake off this odd feeling when they spot a beautiful woman singing an enchanting song while weaving ambrosial fabric.

Why do Odysseus’ men find the animals so unsettling? Do you think the animals may turn into humans? Or do you think the enchantress may turn Odysseus’ men into animals?

The beautiful enchantress offers the men something to eat and drink, which the men greedily accept - they have, after all, been on board boats for a very long time – and all of them gobble the food down, except for one, Polites, who senses a trap.  Suddenly, before his eyes, he sees his friends turn into pigs!

 The Enchantress, whose name is Circe, turns the men into their “totem animal” with her magic potion. The totem animal is the internal animal that represents the secret hidden nature of the person. Odysseus’ men are sometimes driven more by their carnal needs than by their intelligence and so the animal that represents the men’s real nature is the swine, noted for its sensual indolence and huge appetites.

Polites, horrified, runs to the ship to tell Odysseus the terrible news. Before Odysseus goes to save his men, Hermes, the messenger god arrives to give him “moly” which is believed to be a sort of garlic to protect him from the witches’ power.  (Who knew that twenty five hundred years ago, garlic was not only effective against vampires but also evil witches (;-)? Odysseus runs to Circes’ cave where she tries to give him the magic potion with the hope that such a fine man as he would be turned into a lion, or some other sexy beast.  But when Odysseus eats the potion without incident, she knows she has met her match.  When he tells Circe to either turn his men back into humans or he will kill her, she replies, “Do and you will never see your men again.” Realizing he has met his match, Odysseus resheaths his sword and she agrees to turn his men back into men.

 Reaching a sort of détente, Circe, Odysseus and his men begin to celebrate for what the humans think is a wild five day party. After five days of this celebration, Odysseus informs Circe that they appreciate her hospitality (after all, she did turn them back into men) but after five days it’s time for them to head back to sea.  Circe is amused by this for she knows that on her island of sensuality and indulgence, time bends and lose its shape, which humans are particularly vulnerable to. Humans become victim to their senses and of time, and five days can stretch out to…..five years!  Odysseus doesn’t believe her when she tells them they have wasted five years of their lives on food, drink and sex on her island.  It’s not until she shows him the five years of sand that’s accumulated on their ships that he believes her. 

What important lesson do you think the chapter holds for us humans?

But first, before he leaves, Circe tells him he must go to the “Land of the Dead” to seek out Teresias, the blind oracle to learn his fate. Circe warns him that he must go, unaccompanied by his men, and that he must carry a black lamb to attract the attention of the dead prophet.

Persephone: Her mother is Demeter or Ceres. The myth of Persephone and Ceres explains the seasons.

Myths: Stories made up by ancient peoples to explain naturally occurring phenomena, such as the changing of the seasons, rain, the sunrise, etc.

Teiresias is a blind Greek seer who predicts the future. He was also the only man who knew what it was like being a woman for he had spent seven years as one. One day he was walking down a road and saw two snakes mating. For some reason, he was turned into a woman. Seven years later, walking down the same road he saw two snakes - maybe the same ones - mating and he was turned back into a man. There is also a belief that the blind, who are denied sight of the material world, are compensated by having sight or knowledge of the psychic or unknown world - the future, the past and those worlds that are unknown to the sighted living world.

Teiresias is a very important character in Greek literature for many different writers in the Greek era used him as a prophet to predict the future, provide hidden information about the past and to provide guidance and advice to other characters.

___________________________________________________________

The Cyclops

Page 660; Polyphemus the Cyclops

This is in “media res” which means that we start the story in the middle. Remember that Odysseus is sitting in the court of Alcinous telling the story of what happened during the last ten years.  This part of the story is in flashback!

Remember the ties between the host and guests are sacred. Who violated these ties in The Cyclops?

What did Odysseus and the men do when they found themselves in the Cyclop’s cave?
What did the Cyclops do when he came into the cave?
Did the Cyclops know that Odysseus and his men were there?
What did he do when he first saw them?
What did Odysseus say that offended the Cyclops?
The Cyclops took it as a rebuke (scolding) or that Odysseus was scolding him.
What is the Cyclop's attitude about the gods?
What clever lie did Odysseus tell the Cyclops and why did he tell it?
What did the Cyclops do next?
The men were described as two small puppies struggling in the hands of the Cyclops.  “Like squirming puppies....” This is an example of a simile.

“When the young Dawn with fingertips of rose lit up the world....” This is an example of personification for Dawn or sunrise does not have fingertips.
The Cyclops ate two more men for breakfast ;-(

Cap a quiver - the cap or top of a case of arrows.  To cap a quiver means to put the cap or top back on the case of arrows.

The Cyclops put a huge boulder in the door of the cave like an ordinary person would put a cap back on a quiver of arrows so that the men couldn’t escape.

Then men, under Odysseus’ direction, find an olive tree which has already had its branches cut off by the Cyclops.  It looks like a huge mast on a ship.  They sharpen one end of it so that it is very sharp. What do you think they are going to do with that sharp stake?

When the Cyclops comes back, he eats two more men. Odysseus offers him some wine which the Cyclops likes. He likes it soooo much he gets drunk!
Reeling: to stumble around
Seer: to burn on the surface.

The Cyclops:

Please answer in complete sentences:

After the Cyclops eats some of Odysseus’ men, what plan does Odysseus hit upon to escape?

What clever trick did Odysseus use to deceive the Cyclops?

Describe the effect Odysseus’ plan had on the Cyclops.

How did Odysseus and his men escape from the cave?

What foolish thing did Odysseus do after he and the men got on board the boat?

What is the weird?  What was the prediction the ancient wizard foretold about the Cyclops’ fate? Why is it ironic?

How did the Cyclops curse Odysseus?  What effect is it going to have on the rest of the story? 

Polyphemus the Cyclop

Polyphemus the Cyclop

Vocabulary:

Boughs: tree branches
Achaeans: (ah kee uns) Greeks
Ewe: (uu) female sheep
Bleating: Baaa-baaa; the sound a sheep makes
Hewn: to shape an object, usually of wood, with a knife.
Ambrosia: drink of the gods
Smithy: a blacksmith’s workshop
Adz: a tool with a long curving blade
Sage: wise or a wise person
Rosy fingers of Dawn: personification
Death sat there large: metaphor
Kinky: short, tightly curled hair or wool
Pectoral: chest
Carrion: road kill; dead animal body
Rogue: an unscrupulous person, an untrustworthy fellow; George Bush is a rogue.
Adversary: enemy; an opponent
Lob: to throw a heavy object like a rock or a grenade
Stern: the back of a boat
Girdle: to encircle

What was one of the most important things to the Greeks? The ties between the guests and the hosts.
Polyphemus: son of Poseidon.

According to the critic Erwin F. Cook, THE ODYSSEY portrays a series of contrasts between metis (cunning intelligence), and bie or bia (violent might). Odysseus demonstrates metis throughout his adventures, as does his patron, Athena. Poseidon and other figures who oppose Odysseus represent bie. Cook argues that in THE ODYSSEY and in other works, Poseidon and Athena are opposed to each other. They represent the "Greek polarization of nature and culture". Poseidon represents the brute force of nature and Athena represents the ingenuity which renders that power useful or protects us from it.

Symbols: The olive pole, which was used as a weapon by Odysseus against Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon, is a symbol associated with the goddess Athena. According to Greek myth, Athena and Poseidon once competed for sovereignty over Attica, the region in which Athens is located, by offering gifts. Poseidon produced water in the barren Acropolis; Athena produced an olive tree. The Olympian gods who judged the competition, decided that Athena's olive tree was a better offering than Poseidon's water and declared her the winner. The contemporary audiences of THE ODYSSEY would be very familiar with this myth and would have recognized the use of the olive pole as another triumph of Athena over Poseidon, the triumph of the intellect over brute force.

Page 660; Polyphemus the Cyclops

This is in “media res” which means that we start the story in the middle. Remember that Odysseus is sitting in the court of Alcinous telling the story of what happened during the last ten years.  This part of the story is in flashback!

Remember the ties between the host and guests are sacred. Who violated these ties in The Cyclops?

What did Odysseus and the men do when they found themselves in the Cyclop’s cave?

What did the Cyclops do when he came into the cave?

Did the Cyclops know that Odysseus and his men were there?

What did he do when he first saw them?

What did Odysseus say that offended the Cyclops?

The Cyclops took it as a rebuke (scolding) or that Odysseus was scolding him.

What is the Cyclop's attitude about the gods?

What clever lie did Odysseus tell the Cyclops and why did he tell it?

What did the Cyclops do next?

The men were described as two small puppies struggling in the hands of the Cyclops.  “Like squirming puppies....” This is an example of a simile.

“When the young Dawn with fingertips of rose lit up the world....” This is an example of personification for Dawn or sunrise does not have fingertips.

The Cyclops ate two more men for breakfast ;-(

Cap a quiver - the cap or top of a case of arrows.  To cap a quiver means to put the cap or top back on the case of arrows.

The Cyclops put a huge boulder in the door of the cave like an ordinary person would put a cap back on a quiver of arrows so that the men couldn’t escape.

Then men, under Odysseus’ direction, find an olive tree which has already had its branches cut off by the Cyclops.  It looks like a huge mast on a ship.  They sharpen one end of it so that it is very sharp. What do you think they are going to do with that sharp stake?

When the Cyclops comes back, he eats two more men. Odysseus offers him some wine which the Cyclops likes. He likes it soooo much he gets drunk!

Reeling: to stumble around

Seer: to burn on the surface.

The Cyclops:

Please answer in complete sentences:

After the Cyclops eats some of Odysseus’ men, what plan does Odysseus hit upon to escape?

What clever trick did Odysseus use to deceive the Cyclops?

Describe the effect Odysseus’ plan had on the Cyclops.

How did Odysseus and his men escape from the cave?

What foolish thing did Odysseus do after he and the men got on board the boat?

What is the weird?  What was the prediction the ancient wizard foretold about the Cyclops’ fate? Why is it ironic?

How did the Cyclops curse Odysseus?  What effect is it going to have on the rest of the story? 

November 7, 2011 - November 10, 2011
Ninth Grade Honors English Agenda

Monday, November 7th:
Finish the Propaganda presentations.
Begin reading "The Cask of Amontillado"

Tuesday, November 8th:
Shortened day!
Finish reading "The Cask of Amontillado"
Pass out the irony and vocabulary packet for "The Cask of Amontillado"

Wednesday, November 9th:
Please bring your VOCABULARY WORKSHOP and your HOLT HANDBOOK (blue grammar book)
Unit 2 in your vocabulary book will be assigned today and will be due on Tuesday, November 15th.
"Independent and Subordinate Clauses"; pages 98 - 100; exercise 1 will be assigned today and will be due on Monday, November 14th.
Begin reading "The Most Dangerous Game".

Thursday, November 10th:
Warm-up!
Using three words from your Unit 3 vocabulary, write three sentence using subordinate clauses.
Continue reading "The Most Dangerous Game"