The Odyssey Test; Books 4 - 9

Quiz THE ODYSSEY page  1 of 4

Student’s Name:

Period: 

1. THE ODYSSEY begins approximately _________ after the fall of Troy.

a) Ten years c) Three years

b) Five years d) Two years

2. The first major character we meet in THE ODYSSEY is:

a) Odysseus c) Telemachus, Odysseus’ son

b) Penelope, Odysseus’ wife d) Calypso

3. The goddess who has taken a special interest in the cause of Odysseus is:

a) Athena, the goddess of wisdom c) Hera, the goddess of the hearth

b) Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty d) Artemis, the goddess of the hunt

4. The first time we see Odysseus is in Book Four when he is on the Island of Calypso and is:

a) Madly in love with the goddess Calypso c) Turning his men into animals

b) Crying in loneliness for his wife and son d) Eating the lotus flower

5. Athena asks Zeus to intercede for Odysseus on the Isle of Calypso so that he may:

a)   Remember that he has a wife and son to return to

b)   Stop eating the lotus flower

c)   Quickly return home to his family

d)   Fall out of love with Calypso

6. Hermes, the messenger of the gods, is dispatched to convince Calypso to release Odysseus by telling her that if she doesn’t release Odysseus:

a)  Calypso’s beautiful nymphs will be turned to pigs 

b)   Her island will be plunged to the bottom of the sea

c)   She will be turned to stone 

d)   Odysseus will die if she doesn’t release him

7. Odysseus proves he is a brilliant man by telling Calypso:

a) That he loves her more than Penelope

b) He misses his son

c) That Penelope is old and he no longer wants her 

d) He realizes that Penelope is merely mortal and cannot compete with a goddess but he misses her.

Quiz THE ODYSSEY page 2 of 4

8. Calypso allows Odysseus to build a raft to set sail for home but:

1. Poseidon stirs up a storm and blows him off course 
2. He must go to the Land of the Dead first

c)   Helios convinces Zeus to strike his raft with lightning 

d)   His ship is sucked into a whirlpool

9. Odysseus is discovered by the Princess Nausicaa who:

1. Holds him captive for another five years 
2. She runs away in fear

c)   Takes him to her father’s court where he is treated with hospitality 

d)   She ignores his pleas for help.

10. Odysseus’ treatment at the court of Alcinous reveals one of the most sacred beliefs of the ancient Greeks:

1. One must be wary of strangers 
2. The ties between host and guest are sacred

c)   A man must never cry 

d)   One must brag about one’s exploits

11. THE ODYSSEY begins in “media res” which means:

1. In the middle 
2. Near the beginning

c)   Near the end 

d)   In flashback

12. It is at the Court of Alcinous that Odysseus reveals his identity to the astonishment of the court and begins to:

1. Lament the past few years of his life 
2. Tell where he has been for ten years

c)   Ask for news about his home 

d)   Brag about his war record in Troy

13. One of the first stories Odysseus recounts is:

1. The Land of the Cyclops 
2. The Isle of the Cicones

c)   The Land of the Dead 

d)   The Isle of Calypso

14. On the Isle of the Cicones, Odysseus loses many men because they disregard his orders to:

1. To board the ship before fresh troops arrive to avenge their Cicone kinsmen.
2. The men are eaten by a sea monster

c)   The men won’t stop eating the lotus flower 

d)   The men are sucked into a whirlpool

Quiz THE ODYSSEY page 3 of 4

15. Odysseus must drag some of his men from the Isle of the Lotus Eaters because:

1. Partaking of the lotus plant makes one forget one’s ambitions
2. The men are under the spell of a witch

c)   The men are starving 

d)   The men have been turned to pigs

16. Polyphemus, the one-eyed cyclops, is the son of:

1. Athena b) Poseidon c) Zeus d) Helios

17. Part of the problem Odysseus and his men encounter on the Cyclops’ island is that both they and the Cyclops violate the ancient and sacred Greek cultural codes of behavior:

1. The ties between host and guests. 
2. The bonds which tie all Greeks

c)   The bond between warriors 

d)   One must honor the host

18. Odysseus tricks Polyphemus by telling him his name is:

1. Menelaus b) Nohbdy c) Agamemnon d) Alcinous

19. Polyphemus is a particularly vile monster because he devours some of Odysseus’ men alive:

1. True b) False

20. In the battle between Polyphemus and Odysseus, it could be said that Polyphemus represents:

1. Brute force and narrow mindedness b) Intelligence and cunning

21. In the battle between Polyphemus and Odysseus, it could be said that Odysseus represents:

1. Brute force and narrow mindedness b) Intelligence and cunning

22. Odysseus and his men trick Polyphemus by getting him drunk and blinding him while he is sleeping it off:

1. True b) False

23. Odysseus and his men manage to escape from Polyphemus’ cave by hiding under the cyclops’ rams and riding out of the cave when he lets them out in the morning:

a) True b) False

24. Polyphemus’ curse on Odysseus includes all the following except:

a) He must travel many years trying to get home 

b) All of his companions will be killed and he alone will return home

c) His wife will be married to another man

d) He will return home to find his kingdom in discord

25 Odysseus and his men could have escaped without being cursed by the cyclops’ father if Odysseus had not:

a) Become prideful and boastful and told the cyclops his real name

b) Told the cyclops that Odysseus did not owe his father any credit in winning the Trojan War.

c) Taunted the cyclops’ stupidity

February 12, 2018 - February 16, 2018 Weekly Agenda for 9th Grade English

Monday, February 12th:
Kahoots! The Cyclops
Unit 4 Vocabulary
Read The Odyssey 

Kahoots!

The Wind God

Cyclops

Circe

Vocabulary

Tuesday, February 13th: 

Page 673

 Odysseus is sitting on the island of Alcinous and he is telling the court where he has been for the past ten years.

After he and his men escape the Cyclop’s island, they encounter the Wind God Aeolus who gives Odysseus a bag of "bad" winds - the north, the south, and the east winds, leaving only the west winds to help him get home.

Julian – If Odysseus had only told the men what was in the bag, they would have trusted him and not opened the bag. When they opened the bag, the winds were released, causing the ship to blow back out to sea!

Now he is on the island of the lovely enchantress Circe.

Vocabulary:

Tidbits – small bits of delicious food!!!!!!!

Julian and David

Beguiling – charming and enchanting, often in a deceptive way!

Snare – a trap set by hunters to catch their prey

Eurylochus feared a trap or a snare and would not eat the food that Circe served the men.

A pinch – a small amount of food that is literally the amount that a pinch (a small granule of salt pinched between the fingers would provide.

Vile – morally bad or wicked

Vial – a small container

Scarce – barely enough; as soon as

Pigsty – a place where pigs live

Swinish – pig like

Swine – a pig

Fodder – food for farm animals

Foreboding: a sense of something bad is about to happen.

The moral of the Island of Circe – do not let fun get in the way of your goals. Do not let distractions prevent you from accomplishing your goals.

Cereal is made from grains

Ceres is the goddess of grains and grass and trees and flowers

Persephone is her daughter!

Teiresias is a blind seer or prophet.  Teiresias is an old man who is now dead and living in the Underworld.  Circe sends Odysseus to see Teiresias to find out how he can get home safely.

Wednesday, February 14th: 
  Choose one of the stories we have read so far in The Odyssey:
Class determined the themes of each Odyssey story:

1.     The Ciccones – get your priorities straight! Follow orders!

2.     The Bag of Winds – Be honest! Trust each other! Keep people informed

3.     The Cyclops – Honor your guests! Honor your host!

4.     Circe – Don’t let distractions get in the way of your goals.

5.     The Suitors – Behave in a respectful way

6.     The Lotus Eaters – Do Not Do Drugs! You will never get ahead!

Write down the names of the people in your group and your first two choices. This will be on a first come, first serve basis.

1.     Jason, David, Julian – The Bag of Winds

2.     Alejandra, Lizbeth L., Julia – Circe

3.     Yessenia, Hilaryd – the Cyclops

4.     Takai, Sam, Makenna – the Suitors

5.     Tymiah, Taylor, Cierra – The Ciccones

6.     Melanie, Milan – Circe

7.     Lizbeth A., Katherine, Idalia – The Lotus Eaters

8.     Jose, Adolfo – the Suitors

9.     Jasmine, Salamata – the Bag of Winds

Write a sixty-second PSA (public service announcement) about the lessons learned in the above stories from The Odyssey.  It can be funny. You should use the stories from The Odyssey for your P.S.A. 

1.     The script must be written – typed would be best

2.     Everybody in the group must participate!

3.     The PSA must be based on The Odyssey

4.     You can use a “Percy Jackson” approach – mixing the present with The Odyssey!


Thursday, February 15th:  
Allowed some time to rehearse the scenes. 

Following scenes performed:

Circe’s Island  - Julia, Alejandra, Julian

The Lotus Eaters – Julian, Jason, David

Redo:

The Ciccones – Tymiah, Taylor, Cierra

Extras – Julian, Jose, Idalia, Adolfo

Friday, February 16th: 
Performances:
Jasmine and Salamata  -"The Bag of Winds"
Redo with help from Lizbeth L. and Julian

Lizbeth A., Katherine, Idalia - "The Lotus Eaters" 

February 5, 2018 - February 9, 2018 Weekly Agenda

Monday, February 5th:
  Kahoots – Vocabulary Workshop, Unit 4, Level C

Kahoots – The Odyssey: “I am Laertes’ Son” and “Calypso”

Went over “Applying Skills” in The Odyssey Packet, 

Books 1 – 4, “Conflict” 

Tuesday, February 6th:  

Read “The Lotus Eaters”

Page 658

What happens to people who eat the lotus flower?

The people lose their will to go home. They just want to eat the lotus flower and stay on the island.

Taylor:

This is a P.S.A. – which warns people not to engage in drugs and alcohol.

Some scholars believe that the lotus flower might have been marijuana because it made the marijuana users lethargic and apathetic.

Milan

Lethargic: lazy, you just want to lay around

Adolfo and Taylor and David

Apathetic: showing little animation or emotion; indifferent

Page 660 The Cyclops

Reader:

Adolfo

Bough: tree branch

Yessenia:

Cavern is a large cave

Ewes: female sheep

Ram: a male sheep

 The first thing the Cylcops does is place a huge mult-ton slab of rock in the cave’s opening. After he makes his dinner, he sees Odysseus’s men in the firelight.

Adolfo!

Explained why the Cyclops got an attitude with Odysseus.

Why did the Cyclops ask Odysseus where his ships were?

Adolfo – Because Cylcops wanted to destroy it!

And why did Odysseus lie about it?

David and Adolfo knew that the Cyclops’ intention was to destroy the ship!

Acted out the Lotus Eaters:

Milan, Adolfo, Julian, Alejandra, Julia

Wednesday, February 7th: 
Worked on completing unfinished vocabulary, grammar, and literary packet assignments to help students pass.

Thursday, February 8th: 

Page 663; The Odyssey, The Cyclops

Line 273
Brief review: 

What did the Cyclops ask Odysseus?

Melanie – Where did Odysseus leave his ship?

David – the Cyclops wanted to destroy his ship!

Odysseus said the ship was destroyed!

Reader:

Jasmine

Vocabulary:

Atremble – to make something tremble

Appalled – shocked and horrified

Ponderous – of great weight, very heavy

Remember, Odysseus is still in the court of Alcinous telling the events of  the past ten years of his wanderings.  He is now telling about his adventures on the island of the Cylcops.

  (“Neither replay nor pity came from him..) to line 296 (…and wait for morning.)

What did the Cyclops do to Odysseus’ men?

“…but the Cyclops went on filling up his belly

with manflesh…”

“But in one stride he clutched at my companions and caught two….and made them his meal….”

The Cyclops ate some of Odysseus’ men alive.

Why didn’t Odysseus kill the Cyclops?

 He didn’t kill the Cyclops because the door of the cave was blocked by a huge stone which only the Cyclops could move.  The men would be trapped there forever and perish in a horrible death.

Perish: to die

“If we killed him

we perished there as well, for we could never

move his ponderous doorway slab aside.”

Ponderous: big and heavy and sometimes slow.

Why did the Cyclops kill Odysseus’ men?

Maybe Cyclops was hungry for man flesh and to show how vicious and mean he was.

“When the young Dawn with fingertips of rose lit up the world” is another way of saying it’s……..What?

 It’s morning!!!!

Personification and imagery

1.What is the above quotation an example of?  Personification? Simile? Imagery?

2. Cap a quiver describes how the Cyclops closed the door of the cave. What is the phrase? Is it a simile or a metaphor? What is it being compared to?

3. What did the Cyclops do in the morning?

Class discussion 

Vocabulary:

Bough: a big tree branch

Ewes: female sheep

Ravage: to destroy violently

What did the Cyclops do to Odysseus’ men?

“Neither reply nor pity came from him,

But in one stride he clutched at my companions

And caught two in his hands like squirming puppies

To beat their brains out, spattering the floor.

Then he dismembered them and made his meal.”

What is the following line an example of:

“…and caught in his hands like squirming puppies

to beat their brains out, spattering the floor.”

Simile

Homer is comparing the men to squirming puppies.

When the young Dawn with fingertips of rose

Lit up the world.

personification

Vocabulary:

Dispatch: to finish, to be done with

Cap a quiver: to put a top or lid on the round container filled with arrows, which is carried on the back by archers like Katniss or Robin Hood.

Hewed: to smooth with a knife to make a piece of wood smooth and shiny.

Profusion: a great deal; in great abundance.

Ponderous: large, huge, awkward, slow

Flock: a herd of sheep or birds

Ewe: a female sheep, and it’s pronounced like “you”.

Vocabulary:

Cordial: friendly, warm, welcoming, etc.

(Cor’ djal)

Odysseus’ men took out the Cyclop’s eye by driving a spike (a six foot long section of an olive tree sharpened to a razor point) into the Cyclop’s eye.

Vocabulary:

Cap a quiver: to put a lid on the round container of arrows that is carried on the back. Quiver is the round container carried on the back of Katniss and Robin Hood.

Metaphor. Homer is comparing the stone that blocks the cave’s mouth to a cap on a quiver.

Felled: to chop down a tree

Mast: the main huge beam on a boat which stands perpendicular to the deck.  Sails are suspended from the mast.

Dung: manure

Profusion: a great abundance, a huge amount

Rogue: a con man, criminal

Carrion: road kill; a dead animal

Weird: fate

Girdler: to encircle; like a belt

Wits: intelligence

Friday, February 9th: 

Open your books to page 667

Milan:

Review:

The men were taking twine from the Cyclops’ bed to tie themselves under the middle of a trio of big sheep.  Odysseus had to hold onto the biggest ram by his hands because there was no one to tie him up to a ram.

Reader:

Milan

When Dawn spread out her fingertips of rose  - personification

Carrion: road kill, a dead animal

Rogue: a criminal

Fold (noun) a group of animals or the sleeping quarters of animals such as sheep or goats

Adversary: an enemy

Weird: the original meaning of the word weird is fate!

Who told the Cyclops about his fate?

David:

Telemus the Wizard foretold that the Cyclops  would be blinded by a man by the name of Odysseus.

What type of man was the Cyclops expecting?

David – he was expecting a giant man.

The Cyclops was defeated not by a big man of brawn but by a small man of great intellect.

The Cyclops prayed to his father Poseidon to curse Odysseus, so that he would not get home, or that  if he did reach home, he would first be faced with years of hard sailing,  days of bitterness, and the loss of his companions.  When Odysseus finally did reach home he would be faced with  turmoil and strife at home. 

January 29, 2018 - February 2, 2018 Weekly Agenda for 9th Grade English

Monday, January 29th:

Book 3: The Visit to Nestor

Chaotic: out of control, unorganized,

Blue-maned: epithet describing Poseidon

Mane is the hair that grows on the neck of a horse

Blue is the color of the ocean

Vocabulary:

To furl: to roll up as in a flag or a sail

Disembark: to get off a boat

Embark: to board a boat, or to begin an adventure

Dis is a prefix which means to undo or not

Congregation: a large group of people who assemble

To congregate: to come together, to assemble

Salamata gets a point

To broach: to puncture or to open

Storehouse is where grains and harvest are stored

To broach the store house of his mind is a metaphor!

Interrogate: to investigate for clues by questioning

Pylos is the name of the island that Nestor lives on.

Nestor feeds Telemachus and his men first and then asks who they are. This shows respect! The ties between guests and host are sacred!

Prudently: adverb describing something as careful and showing restraint and good judgment.

Points: Taylor, Adolfo, Yessenia, Lizbeth

Reader:

Adolfo – Book 3, “The Visit to Nestor on the Isle of Pylos”

Salamata – Book 4, “The Visit to Menelaus and Helen”

Vocabulary:

Luminous: shining as if lighted from inside, glowing

Wanton: immoral or naughty person

Menelaus does not realize he is talking to Odysseus’ son until Telemachus breaks down in tears over stories Menelaus is telling about his father.

As soon as Helen walks into the room, she recognizes Telemachus as being Odysseus’s son for the resemblance is sto strong.

Menelaus and Helen tell Telemachus that they heard Odysseus is alive and living on a island with Calypso, a nymph. 

Nestor: a charioteer during the Trojan War

Telemachus first goes to Nestor’s island  to look for his father

Tuesday, January 30th: 

Assigned Unit 4, #11 – 20
1. Peruse
Part of Speech: Verb
Definition: to read closely, to look at closely
Synonyms: Pore over, scrutinize, investigate
Antonyms: skim, to glance at
Original sentence:
She perused the contract before she signed it.
I always peruse my notes before tests.

Sentence from a literary source:
He spent countless hours in the library perusing art books and catalogs.
"She spent hours perusing worthless information." Maze Runner, Book 4

Will be due on Monday, February 5

Worked on #11 together

Read The Odyssey, pages 651 – 653

Read lines from 49 – 65 and draw a picture of Calypso’s cave.
Who was Hermes?
Where was he going?
What message was he delivering?
Why?
Why did Calypso agree to Zeus' demand?
Who interceded for Odysseus?
Why does Athena love Odysseus so much?

Wednesday, January 31st: 
Calypso's Island

We first meet Odysseus in Book 4 where he is sitting on the shore of the lovely Calypso's island weeping with longing for his wife and son whom he has not seen in twenty years. It seems that Odysseus has grown tired of the beautiful goddess and wishes to go home to Penelope. Athena, the goddess of Wisdom, his patroness, takes pity on Odysseus and goes to Zeus to beg for his safe return to Ithaca. Zeus sends Hermes, the messenger of the gods, to give the seductive Calypso an offer she cannot refuse - either give up Odysseus and allow him to go home to his beloved Penelope - or Zeus will send her island plummeting to the bottom of the ocean. Calypso reluctantly agrees, but before allowing him to leave, Calypso offers Odysseus a romantic little dinner for two and over candlelight she asks him the age-old questions, "What does she have that I don't have?" Odysseus, the wiliest of all the Greeks - which is why he is the favorite of Athena, the goddess of Wisdom - casts his far ranging mind for an answer and comes up with this answer - although Penelope, being a mere mortal, cannot compare to the beauty of a goddess, he misses his quiet wife and wishes to grow old with her. Calypso reluctantly gives him permission to build a small boat to set sail for home, and bids him adieu.

But Poseidon, the god of the sea, still has not forgiven Odysseus for blinding his son, Polyphemus the Cyclops, and once again sends storms and winds to keep him at sea for weeks. Finally, Odysseus is shipwrecked on an island and exhausted from his weeks of battling sea storms, falls into a deep sleep. Meanwhile, Athena is up and about, setting the stage for his rescue.

I am Laertes' Son.

Princess Nausicaa takes him to the palace where her parents greet this striking stranger (whom Athena has made appear taller, more massive, with red gold crisping hair like hyacinth) with great politeness. Like all good Greeks who respect the laws of their gods and know that the ties between guests and hosts are sacred, the King and Queen offer the stranger wine and food. After he has eaten his fill, the court minstrel asks him what topic of song he would like the minstrel to sing. The stranger requests a song about the exploits of the Greek hero Odysseus at Troy, and his endless wandering, and his men lost at sea. As the minstrel begins to sing tears begin to fall from the stranger's eyes. The King can no longer hide his curiosity and asks, "Who are you?" The stranger's words, "I am Laertes' son, Odysseus, I mean..." are met with shock and amazement. Here is the great Greek warrior long thought dead, found alive at last sit ting in our palace!

Odysseus begins recounting his ceaseless attempts to return home after the fall of Troy twenty years ago.

The story is told in "Medea Res" which means in the "middle of". Notice that the book picks up ten years after the fall of Troy and after the occurrence of most of the events. Odysseus tells the story to the Court of Alcinous in flash back format. The stories of the Island of the Cicones, the Land of the Lotus Eaters, The Bag of Winds, the Island of Polyphemus the Cyclops, Circe the Witch, the Land of the Dead, back to the Island of Circe the Witch, the Sirens, Scylla, Charybdis and Thrinakia, the Island of Helios, the Sun God, all are recounted by Odysseus to the Court of Alcinous, and we the audience experience these stories in flashback. The real time occurrences are The Island of Calypso, The Court of Alcinous and his return to Ithaca where he struggles to regain his home.

Watched the movie The Odyssey – Circe the Witch up to the sailing to the Land of the Dead.

Thursday, February 1st: 
Developing Vocabulary:

Lavished: (verb) to give generously

She rented a lavish salon for her “sweet sixteenth” party.

Insolent: (adjective) to be deliberately rude or disrespectful, particularly to someone of higher status.

The waiter was insolent to us when he refused to bring us water.

Cierra:

The waiter was insolent to us when he refused to take our order.

Yessenia:

The insolent cashier insulted me.

Taylor:

The insolent child refused to play with the less fortunate children

Julia:

There are many insolent people in the world.

Lucid: (adjective) Clear and easy to understand

Lucid can apply to water or liquid.

Cierra dove into a lucid pool of water.

Ms. Bridges is really lucid when she says, “Edgar Allen Poe!”

The great Dutch artist Vermeer is well known for his use of lucid light in his paintings.

Lucid can be applied to people as in being in a state of consciousness.

At first the police thought the man was drunk, but when he regained consciousness and was lucid, they realized he had been in a diabetic coma.

People who have alzheimer’s are frequently not lucid.

Taylor, Cierra, Milan, Yessenia  - sentences

Broach: to make a hole in; to tap, to introduce

Cierra: The handyman used a nail to broach a hole in the wall.

Taylor: In order to fix the plumbing the plumber had to broach a hole in the bathroom. 

He is timid to broach the subject of marriage with her. 

Conflict

Readers: Nadiya

Internal conflict and external conflict

Lizbeth L. and Yessenia

Internal conflict is within your self or within the individual.

External conflict can be a physical conflict

Nadiya and Lizbeth A.

A character’s conflict with an outside force.

Person versus person – two people in conflict with each other

Person versus society  - a person or persons fighting against society’s rules.

The fight for civil rights during the fifties and the sixties would be an example of persons fighting against society for basic rights. This would be person versus persons or society. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks were persons fighting against society.

Person versus nature – example: a person in a boat stranded in the middle of the ocean fighting for survival.

Person versus the supernatural (god) – Odysseus struggling with Poseidon.

Person versus machine – an astronaut stranded in a spaceship controlled by a computer that wants to kill him.

1.     The men on Odysseus’ ship disobeyed the laws of the gods by eating Helios’ sheep and cattle and as a result, they were punished by death.

Friday, February 2nd: 

Vocabulary:

Prudently: (adverb) carefully, cautiously, with good judgment.

Cierra:

My mother told me to spend your money prudently.

An adverb describes a verb.

To Ponder: (verb) to think over, to weigh mentally, to consider carefully.

Tymiah: My little sister always ponders about her grades.

Cierra: I ponder on whether I am going to wash the dishes today.

Taylor: The teacher pondered on whether to give a project or a test for the final.

Contending: (Noun) fighting, competing, struggling, arguing

Milan –

Cierra: Me and my sister stopped contending over the remote when our mother came home.

Salamata: I contended that my little sister took my clothes.

Taylor: My mother accused me of eating the last bit of ice cream, but I contended that I didn’t.

Cierra:

Din: (noun) a loud continuous noise; a clamor; a jumble of loud continuous sounds that unpleasant.

The din of the fire alarm was deafening.

Taylor: The din of my cousin playing the game caused my auntie to turn the game off.

Conflict:

Person versus person:

Who is speaking? The suitors

Who are they speaking to? Telemachus

What are they telling him to do?

They are telling Telemachus to force his mother into choosing one of them to marry.

Pages 656

“I am Laertes’ Son!”

Formidable: strong, awe-inspiring excellence, strikingly impressive

Mutinous: (adjective) rebellious, failing or refusing to follow orders from a superior officer.

Because the men did not follow Odysseus’ orders, the men were attacked by the surviving Ciccones and they had to fight for their lives to get off the island.