1 00:00:04,075 --> 00:00:07,090 This week, we are going to carry forward with our Homer. 2 00:00:07,090 --> 00:00:12,018 We introduce some basics of what the Homeric story is like last time and a 3 00:00:12,018 --> 00:00:14,413 close look at the opening lines of the book one. 4 00:00:14,413 --> 00:00:18,810 This week we are going to look at huge pieces of Homer's poetry books one through 5 00:00:18,810 --> 00:00:21,108 eight. To get our self started, I thought I would 6 00:00:21,108 --> 00:00:25,365 do a similar kind of thing which I do at the very beginning of book one and take a 7 00:00:25,365 --> 00:00:28,174 look some more lines at the end of book one. 8 00:00:28,175 --> 00:00:32,093 Remember, what we did at the beginning of book one, there was a tremendous amount of 9 00:00:32,093 --> 00:00:36,108 grandeur in those lines. We talked about our hero how he moves from 10 00:00:36,108 --> 00:00:41,016 one part of the world to the other we talked about the Gods, we talked about 11 00:00:41,016 --> 00:00:45,001 grand historical themes. As you carry forward in your reading of 12 00:00:45,001 --> 00:00:49,202 book one, These things are, are, these expectations of grandeur are surely met. 13 00:00:49,202 --> 00:00:52,644 We go up to Olympus. We learn about, what Zeus' life is like. 14 00:00:52,644 --> 00:00:55,749 We learn about how the world works a little bit. 15 00:00:55,935 --> 00:01:00,535 We get a take on the larger story. And we get major pieces of the, of the 16 00:01:00,535 --> 00:01:04,839 story get put into place. But have a look with me for a second at 17 00:01:04,839 --> 00:01:08,852 how book one closes. I'm just reprinting here the pieces of the 18 00:01:08,852 --> 00:01:13,164 Fagles' translation that I have recommended that you all read, strongly 19 00:01:13,164 --> 00:01:15,720 recommended that you all read for this class. 20 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:19,715 Wonderful translation. Let's take a look at what Fagles makes of 21 00:01:19,715 --> 00:01:22,691 these closing lines of book one of the Odyssey. 22 00:01:22,691 --> 00:01:28,535 Telemachus off to his bedroom built in the fine courtyard a commanding, lofty room 23 00:01:28,535 --> 00:01:32,210 set well apart, retired too, his spirit swarming with misgivings. 24 00:01:32,210 --> 00:01:35,465 His devoted nurse attended him, bearing a glowing torch. 25 00:01:35,465 --> 00:01:38,320 Eurycleia the daughter of Ops, Pisenor's son. 26 00:01:38,320 --> 00:01:42,944 Laertes had paid a price for the woman years ago, still in the bloom of youth. 27 00:01:42,944 --> 00:01:47,407 He traded twenty oxen, honored her on a par with own loyal wife at home but 28 00:01:47,407 --> 00:01:50,454 fearing the queen's anger, never shared her bed. 29 00:01:50,454 --> 00:01:53,710 She was his grandson's escort now, and bore a torch. 30 00:01:53,710 --> 00:01:57,317 She was the one of all the maids who loved the Prince the most. 31 00:01:57,317 --> 00:02:01,593 She'd nursed him as a baby. He spread the doors of his snug, well made 32 00:02:01,593 --> 00:02:07,000 room, sat down on the bed, and pulled his shirt off, tossed it into the old woman's 33 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:10,091 conscientious hands. And after folding it neatly, patting it 34 00:02:10,091 --> 00:02:14,043 smooth, she hung it up on a peg beside his corded bed. 35 00:02:14,043 --> 00:02:19,007 Then, padded from the bedroom, drawing the door shut with a silver hook. 36 00:02:19,007 --> 00:02:22,038 Sliding the door bolt home with its rawhide strap. 37 00:02:22,038 --> 00:02:27,016 There, all night long, wrapped in a sheep's warm fleece, he weighed in his 38 00:02:27,016 --> 00:02:32,739 mind the course Athena charted. So, the way this book works, we start off 39 00:02:32,739 --> 00:02:38,305 with grandeur we move away all the way up to the top of the Olympus, we learn grand 40 00:02:38,305 --> 00:02:43,307 things that may be happening. But Homer in his cinematic take on the 41 00:02:43,307 --> 00:02:48,534 world shows us by the time he closes book one, that not only she is going to be 42 00:02:48,534 --> 00:02:54,043 master of broad sweep of things and the big landscape, but it's also being master 43 00:02:54,043 --> 00:02:58,594 of a small intimate detail. This is an epic we're brings together 44 00:02:58,594 --> 00:03:05,417 grand historic large happenings with very small personal intimate interactions 45 00:03:05,417 --> 00:03:09,728 between people and thoughts in people's own minds. 46 00:03:09,939 --> 00:03:15,399 Here we've got a close up scene, where we're taking a look at Telemachus, this 47 00:03:15,399 --> 00:03:19,957 young man and the tender relationship that exists between Telemachus and his nurse 48 00:03:19,957 --> 00:03:25,193 maid the person that brought him up as a young infant through the earliest years of 49 00:03:25,193 --> 00:03:30,576 his life and has been with him all his life more intimate than that is very hard 50 00:03:30,576 --> 00:03:33,505 to get. She takes off his shirt, hangs it on a 51 00:03:33,505 --> 00:03:38,493 hook the bed is described with its smooth fleece and its warm kind of coziness, 52 00:03:38,493 --> 00:03:43,456 Telemachus is kind of tucked in there and this huge sweep of epic events that starts 53 00:03:43,456 --> 00:03:48,191 off book one closes in book one with a tiny sound. 54 00:03:48,191 --> 00:03:54,003 It's the click of a door bolt as it goes to snap. 55 00:03:54,003 --> 00:03:59,087 So this huge event that is moving us from one side of the world to the other Homer 56 00:03:59,087 --> 00:04:02,075 closes us of with his very small grace note. 57 00:04:02,095 --> 00:04:08,072 From his breadth pointing out as a good entry into some of the specific ways that 58 00:04:08,072 --> 00:04:13,005 Homer is going to make this like real world very immediate for us. 59 00:04:13,005 --> 00:04:18,062 Now, this man who have been introduced to, this young man by his, some of his poetic 60 00:04:18,062 --> 00:04:22,583 discussions in book one and by his close-end back and forth with clear at the 61 00:04:22,583 --> 00:04:27,080 close we're going to know more about him in the coming lectures.