Free Essay on Homers Odyssey: Odyssey as Epic Poem :: Homer Odyssey Essays

  The Odyssey as Epic Poem     For thousands of years, people have enjoyed the frolic of epic poems.  The Odyssey is an epic poem.  The Odyssey contains characteristics of an epic poem.  The setting of the Odyssey is immense.  The gods and goddesses of ancient Greece intervene frequently in the Odyssey.  Odysseus exemplifies a special kind of pride.  Throughout the Odyssey, Odysseus undertakes a difficult journey.  .             The Odyssey has an turgid setting.  Odysseus starts off by traveling to Troy, which is the known public.  On his quest home he comes face to face with the unknown world.  Included in the unknown world is the underworld.  Very few mortals had ever made it to the underworld and back safely. Odysseus travels to many different islands, and civilizations throughout the duration of the Odyssey.  Thus, creating many smaller, different settings that all fit into spacious setting.          The gods and goddesses constantly intervene in the Odyssey.  There are many examples of divine intervention in the Odyssey.  One of the most influential gods in the Odyssey is Poseidon.  Poseidon causes Odysseuss journey to be so difficult.  Poseidon is mad at Odysseus because of what he did to his son Polyphemus.  Polyphemus asked his father to avenge him.  This resulted in only Odysseus reaching Ithaca.            Circe was a minor goddess who had a great allure in the Odyssey.  She helped Odysseus by giving some advice on certain matters.  She told Odysseus that she must go to the cold homes of Death and Persephone... meaning the underworld.  She also tells them of the danger which lies ahead in Scylla and Charybdis.         Odysseuss pride led him to make blind, rash decisions.  Hubris, a Greek w ord, is the best way to describe Odysseuss pride.  Hubris is a unique type of pride that is almost arrogance. Odysseus demonstrates this when he is leaving the island of the Cyclopes.  Cyclopes, if ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye Laertes son, whose homes on Ithaca  If Odysseus would have kept his mouth debar he may have escaped Poseidon, and all of men wouldnt have been killed.