After Odysseus and his crew liquor Polyphemus up to dull his senses, they drive a wooden pike through his eye and blind him as a result. ... The heated confrontation is explicitly depicted in the following passage: Its crackling roots blazed and hissed- as a blacksmith plunges a glowing ax or adze in an ice-cold bath and the metal screeches steam and its temper hardens-that's the iron's strength- so the eye of the Cyclops sizzled round that stake! ... The monster wrenched the spike from his eye and out it came with a red geyser of blood- he flung it aside with frantic ...

• Word Count: 2649
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

In China, it was said that after death, a spirit may return to the realm of the living in the body of a red-eyed monster with green or pink hair. ... Yet must thou end thy task, and mark Her cheek's last tinge, her eye's last spark, And the last glassy glance must view Which freezes o"er its lifeless blue; Then with unhallow"d hand shall tear The tresses of her golden hair, Of which in life a lock when shorn, Affection's fondest pledge was worn, But now is borne away by thee, Memorial of thine agony! ...

• Word Count: 2902
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School