ELA Review: 5/5

What did you do this semester in ELA that was most meaningful to you, and why was it meaningful?

The most meaningful thing I did in ELA was blog post and make a movie. The blog post, just because I love blog posting, and making a movie because I think it's so cool how we can do almost anything we want to for our response projects, and I love making movies.

What was the most challenging thing about ELA this semester, and why?

The most challenging thing for me, personally, in ELA, was catching up. It wasn't too difficult, but since I came to POHS in the middle of the first semester, I had to see where everyone was and read Maus super fast because we were at the end of it.

What would you like to change about ELA, and why?

I've tried, but I really can't think of anything that I would like to change.

What would you like to stay the same in ELA, and why?

I love how we get to keep and annotate our books because I love getting books and I actually really enjoy annotating. Contrary to other people, annotating actually helps me to read the book faster because I have to stay engaged and aware of what is happening. If I wasn't annotating, it would take me twice as long because I would zone out or not pay attention and then I would have to read the passage over again because I wouldn't know what was going on. 

If you have any further comments about the class, please include them.

I LOVE YOUR CLASS, MS. HARRISON!

Explaining Epithets

Find three heroic epithets. Explain how you think these epithets were useful to the singer of poems in the Greek oral tradition. (Explain: give a detailed account including reasons or causes.)

An epithet is a descriptor used over and over again to describe a person or place. It is usually a two-worded adjective, with some exceptions. Examples from The Odyssey include: "Athena, the owl-eyed goddess," with owl-eyed being the epithet (3: 87); "Menelaus, the red-haired king," with the epithet as red-haired (52: 284); and "Poseidon, the Lord of Earthquake," in which the epithet is Lord of Earthquake (196: 151).

I think epithets were useful to the singer, or bard, of poems in the Greek oral tradition for many reasons. One reason is that since these bards had to memorize everything, it was a way for them to have easy descriptors of their characters. While it also helped them to remember who the character was, it probably assisted the audience too, because these poems took several days to tell and it's very easy to forget who is who. 

Another example of why they were useful is the use of the dactylic hexameter. The dactylic hexameter is the Greek formal rhythm that is different from our English iambic pentameter. If the poet needed to have more syllables in his line, then he could easily put in the epithet, or the longer version of the epithet.

As you can see, the epithets were extremely useful in many ways to the singer of poems. One of the many things I liked about Lombardo's translation, that is different from the other translation I read (Fagles), is that he didn't use the same epithet the whole time. While it had the same context, he changed it up. For example: "Athena's seagrey eyes glinted," with seagray as the epithet (6: 192); or "Athena, her eyes grey as saltwater," with eyes grey as saltwater being the epithet (10: 331); and "Grey-eyed One," with the epithet as Grey-eyed (10: 336).