Formulaic Language in The Odyssey

          When the Odyssey was first written and performed, it was all oral. It was mostly sung or spoken. There are a ton of characters in this story, and people back then did not have the handy "Glossary of Names" like we do when we read it in modern times. That is why the formulaic language in the Odyssey is super important when it comes to remembering which character is which, because when the important characters have an easy to remember phrase directly in front of or behind their name every time it is spoken, it makes it much easier to remember who is who. Plus the formulaic language often describes the character, for example Menelaus, the red-haired king is used whenever he is spoken about, and serves as a description as well as a helpful reminder of who he is. Other examples of formulaic language in this book include: godlike Odysseus, golden Aphrodite, and Pallas Athena or the Grey-eyed One. Formulaic language is very helpful for describing characters in the Odyssey, but it sometimes describes things too. One example of this is the wine-dark sea.

A Brief Overview of the Odyssey in One Short Poem

Speak Memory–
Of the cunning hero,
The wanderer, blown off course time and again
After he plundered Troy's sacred heights.
Speak
Of all the cities he saw, the minds he grasped,
The suffering deep in his heart at sea
As he struggled to survive and bring his men home
But could not save them, hard as he tried–
The fools–destroyed by their own recklessness
When they ate the oxen of Hyperion the Sun,
And that god snuffed out their day of return.
Of these things,
Speak Immortal One,
And tell the tale one more in our time.

          This poem is the start of the book the "Odyssey" by Homer. I think it is very important because it sets the mood of the book, and it gives the book a great introduction, by giving a brief overview of Odysseus (the character about which the book is written) and his adventures and troubles. I think the most important line in the poem, and the line that sums up the book the most, is the third line "The wanderer, blown off course time and again." This gives a great overview of Odysseus's troubles before he is introduced as the main character in book five. This line, and the rest of the first paragraph of the poem talk about what physically happened to him, and the second big paragraph talks about his emotional pain and suffering of his many years before he came home. It gives the specific example of losing all his men after they ate the oxen of Hyperion. Overall, I think this poem is a very good summary for Odysseus's journeys, and it is structured well with generally what happened at the beginning, and more specific examples at the end.

Slavery: Past vs Present

     The book "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas," by Frederick Douglas, is about Frederick Douglas's journey from slavery to freedom. It talks about the hard life of slaves, with horrible punishments, and very little to eat, etc. It then talks about his journey towards reading, writing, and eventually freedom. At the end of the book, it talks about the abolitionist movement and Frederick Douglas's role in it. I know that slavery was eventually abolished in the US and most of the rest of the   World, but in modern times there are more slaves in the world than there were during this time before the emancipation of slaves. My question about this is: after all are the hard work it took to abolish slavery, why and how are there so many slaves now? People have always been the same, they are greedy, and easily corrupted by power. Most people know this, so why did they let it get so bad before they started stepping in to help?
     I think this would have been a very interesting discussion, if we had a seminar on it, and I would be very interested in what people have to say about slavery now vs. slavery then.