Literary Terms/Themes in The Odyssey

What is an epithet?

• An instance in the text when the author goes off-topic

• A descriptive phrase used to describe a character

• An extended comparison between two unlike things

• A person who provides assistance to the hero on his quest

Which of the following events in the text best exemplifies the principle of Greek hospitality?

• Menelaus feeds and houses Telemachus

• Poseidon punishes the Phaeacians for helping Odysseus

• Odysseus slaughters the suitors upon his return to Ithaca

• Odysseus sacks the city of the Cicones

Which of the following of Odysseus' actions best displays hubris?

• Odysseus ignores Circe's advice and tries to fight Scylla

• Odysseus returns to his house in disguise

• Odysseus heeds Athena's call for peace in the last book

• Odysseus yells at his men for eating Helios' cattle

What is narrative drift?

• An extended comparison between two unlike things

• Visually descriptive and/or figurative language

• An instance in the text when the author goes off-topic

• A warning or indication of a future event

Which of the following is an example of personification?

• "Circe, the nymph with lovely braids"

• "The Sun can never flash his rays through the dark"

• "Nobody - that's my name. Nobody"

• "Down from his deck the man flipped like a diver"

When Odysseus offers up a "black ram" to the prophet Tiresias, that is an example of what?

• Crime and punishment

• Respect for the gods

• Greek hospitality

• Respect for the dead

"A warning or indication of a future event" is the definition of what?

• Simile

• Imagery

• Foreshadowing

• Metaphor

Which of the following best displays disrespect for the gods?

• Odysseus' men eat Helios' cattle, so Zeus wrecks their ship

• Athena encourages Penelope to "fan" her suitors' passions

• Athens assists Odysseus in fighting the suitors

• Calypso heeds Zeus' command to release Odysseus

Which of the following is a good example of imagery?

• "With that the bright-eyed goddess sped away to Olympus"

• "His old nurse was the first to see him, Eurycleia"

• "The eyeball burst - its crackling roots blazed and hissed"

• "So I warned, and my headstrong men complied"

An epic/Homeric simile is defined as what?

• An extended comparison between two unlike things

• Words that resemble the sound of the things they describe

• Giving human-like characteristics to inanimate objects

• An event regarded as a portent of good or evil