Calypso agrees to let him go but first offers Odysseus some advice and guidance saying, "Only I will not aid [you] on [your] way, for I have no ships fitted with oars, nor crews to bear [you] over the broad ocean ridges; but I will freely give [you] counsel and not hide how [you] may come unharmed to [your] own native land"(Bloom, 47). ... Even though Hades is the land of the dead, Odysseus has expectations that he can be guided. ... Hades holds the spirits of the dead and Circe, a sorcerer goddess. Circe once told Odysseus to go and talk to the dead using a special potion of hers. ... When Od...

• Word Count: 1804
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

King Priam wanted to defeat the enemy at the shores where they would land. ... Instead of reaching Troy the Greeks land at Mysia and after a battle received directions to Troy from the king. ... Where the Greeks land exactly is not made clear by Homer but according to Strauss some places might have been the west side of Bronze Age bay, the harbor at Besik bay, the Trojan Harbor (Strauss, 58). ... He forces his way into troy where he meets his dead but later his death is avenged when Paris is killed. ...

• Word Count: 1354
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Even the dead women Odysseus meets in "the cold homes of death" (Homer p.326), are only known because they were the lovers of gods, and bore their children. ... Most of the descriptions given to the many women that Odysseus sees in the land of the dead merely describe their great beauty, the gods that conceived their children, and the greatness of these children. ...

• Word Count: 1272
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

I fear the nymph foretold it all too well-on the high seas, she said, before I can reach my native land I'll fill my cup of pain! ... Odysseus' interview with the ghostlike shades (disembodied souls) of his dead friends reveals how critical nostos is. ... By god, I'd rather slave on earth for another man-some dirt-poor tenant farmer who scrapes to keep alive-than rule down here over all the breathless dead....

• Word Count: 1331
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

After fighting for ten years in the Trojan War, Odysseus and his men sail to the land of the KyKlopes, a violent and uncivilized race of one–eyed giants. ... Perseverance is shown through Penelope's resistance to all the suitors who tried to marry her and take over Odysseus's land. ... Even though she is told to move on, and that Odysseus is most likely dead, she is still faithful to her husband. ...

• Word Count: 1591
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography

In Homer's epic story The Odyssey, there were many major themes. One of these was the recurrent theme of violence, which plagued the story throughout. The editors of The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces states that "The Odyssey was not successful in resolving the problem of violence." ...

• Word Count: 1363
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

• Circe- a beautiful sorceress • Anticlea- mother of Odysseus • King Alcinous- king of the Phaeacians; ruled with his wife, Queen Acretes • Eurycleia- Odysseus" maid since childhood • Teiresias- a dead prophet who lived in the underworld • Calypso- a nymph who took care of Odysseus for 7 years • Polyphemus- a Cyclops; son of Poseidon • Menelaus- husband of Helen; King of Sparta; brother of Agamemnon • Nausicaa- daughter of Alcinous and Queen Acretes • Aeolus- God of the Wind; Poseidon's cousin • Telemachus- Odysse...

• Word Count: 2482
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School