Block, 11/16 - The Beginning of the End

*P&P

*Finish Homer's Odyssey

HW: 

• Finish Homer's Odyssey
• Read Leithart on the Odyssey, keeping in mind that you have a test covering both Leithart and the Odyssey on Tuesday
• All journals are due Monday, no exceptions; I will grade what I'm given in class    

Wednesday, 11/14 - Book 21, "Odysseus Strings His Bow"

Slaughter in the Hall

*P&P

*Discuss Book 21

*Read Book 22, "Slaughter in the Hall"

HW: Wrap up any remaining journals you've not yet finished

Monday, 11/12 - Books 17 & 18

"Someone has mistaken me for this ferocious chap! I didn't do it!"

*P&P

*Discuss Books 17 ("Stranger at the Gates") and 18 ("The Beggar-King of Ithaca")

*Begin Book 19 ("Penelope and Her Guest")

HW: Book 19

Block, 11/9 - Books 15 & 16

*P&P

*Let's discuss Books 15 & 16

*Watch clips of Tangled, or whatever that movie is . . .

HW: Read Books 17 & 18

Wednesday, 11/7 - Book 14 ("The Loyal Swineherd")

Jacque Charles Emile's The Swineherd (1890)

*P&P

*Today we discuss a pretty sweet chapter, a tender musing upon the twin traits of lowliness and loyalty as embodied in Odysseus' swineherd. Notice that the shift in authorial voice from third to second person ("And you replied, Eumaeus, loyal swineherd") most likely denotes, according to many critics, "a mark of the poet's special affection for Eumaeus." What does this imply about the foundation for Achaean society for Homer? Is it found in aristocracy, rhetoric? Or . . . is it something more fundamental, earthy?

HW: Finish Book 15

Tuesday, 11/6 - Book 13 ("Ithaca at Last")

*P&P

*Discuss Book 13

HW: Book 14

Monday, 11/5 - Book 13 ("Ithaca at Last")

Odysseus Arrives Home to Hunt the Young Swine . . . er, Suitors

*P&P

*Discuss Books 11 & 12.

*Begin Book 13, "Ithaca at Last."

HW: Finish Book 13