Dr. Norman Prinsky

Humn. 2001: Ancient World through 17th Century

Test on Homer's Odyssey, Fagles Translation, Books 1-8 Including Prinsky’s Notes and Questions on the Reading (PNQ), and Prinsky’s Lecture Material

Note: don’t forget to use your collegiate dictionary (a required textbook in Engl. 1101) for words or terms.

1. Homer's Odyssey represents the literature and language of ancient: (a) Egypt (b) Greece (c) Rome (d) France (e) Spain

2. As stated in the NAWLS2, Homer's Odyssey was written or recorded about the: (a) tenth century BCE (b) eighth century BCE (c) sixth century BCE (d) fourth century BCE

3. According to the NAWLS2 introduction, the main evidence for a single poet's composing of both the Iliad and Odyssey is in each one's: (a) invocations (b) structure (c) metrical formulas (d) prose passages

4. According to the NAWLS2 introduction, the climactic scene of Odysseus' meeting with Achilles in the underworld (Book 11) shows, fairly decisively: (a) Homer's sympathy for Odysseus' values over Achilles' (b) the piety of ancient Greek religion (c) Homer's enjoyment of the music played at Joe's Underground (d) the Greeks' joyous anticipation of the afterlife (e) the old athletic injury to Odysseus' Achilles tendon (f) the old athletic injury to Achilles' Odysseus tendon

5. In contrast to the translations by George Chapman, Alexander Pope, and Butcher and Lang of Homer's Odyssey, Robert Fitzgerald and Robert Fagles, in their translations of Homer's Odyssey, primarily use: (a) rhymed verse (b) prose (c) blank verse (d) sonnets

6. As indicated in Prinsky’s Notes and Questions (PNQ), Homer's Iliad and Odyssey had a profound impact on which one of the ancient Greek visual arts: (a) oil painting (b) architecture (c) pottery (vases) (d) sculpture (e) women's (olive) oil wrestling

7. As indicated in PNQ and class lecture, Homer's Odyssey reflects all the following properties or values of Greek visual art except which one: (a) de-emphasis of color (b) geometric exactitude (c) symmetry (d) cunning (e) restraint

8. As indicated in PNQ and class lecture, including possible excerpt played in class, Homer's Odyssey became the basis of operas by all the following composers except which one: (a) Claudio Monteverdi (b) Reinhard Keiser (c) Niccolo Piccinni (d) Gabriel Fauré (e) John Cage

9. The actor taking the lead role in the 1955 Italian film Ulysses, based on the Odyssey, was: (a) Marcello Mastroianni (b) Burt Lancaster (c) Kirk Douglas (d) Charlton Heston (e) Sean Young (f) Sean Penn (g) Sean Connery (h) Dick Shawn

10. Robert Fitzgerald and other translators (including Butcher and Lang, and E.V. Rieu) in translation of the Odyssey use such words as "Manor," "minstrel," "squires," and "her Ladyship Kalypso" to capture what main quality that perceived in the ancient Greek society depicted in the work: (a) feudal (b) humorous (c) complex (d) poetic (e) violent

11. In Book 1, the Odyssey opens (in the first fifteen or twenty lines) by emphasizing all the following ideal aspects of Odysseus, except which one: (a) self-restraint (b) intellect (c) religious reverence (d) emotional capacity (e) good looks

12. A problem for translators in the very first line of Homer’s Odyssey is the word in Greek -- variously translated, as per the translations reprinted in Prinsky’s Notes and Questions (PNQ) of the first thirty or forty lines of the work, as “wisdome,” “wisdom’s various arts,” “genius versatile,” “sagacious,” “so ready at need,” “ingenious,” “never at a loss,” “resourceful,” “fated to roam,” “versatile,” “adventurous,” “of many turns,” “of many ways,” “wide-ranging spirit,” “of many wiles,” “of many devices,” “man of twists and turns,” “man of much resource,” “cunning”: (a) polyandry (b) polymechanos (c) polymetis (d) polytropos

13. In the opening lines of the epic, some translators are better than others in capturing Homer’s exact wording of Helios Hyperion, the sun god, taking away the day of the return of Odysseus’ crew, which embodies typical Homeric: (a) ornateness (b) irony (c) archaism (d) exaggeration

14. An opening epithet for Odysseus in the description of Poseidon’s rage against him is translated as “great” in the Fagles translation (“great Odysseus,” Book 1, line 24) and “brave” in the Fitzgerald translation “the brave king,” Book 1, line 31). The actual Greek word, an epithet repeated many times in the Odyssey (for other characters as well as Odysseus), is antitheo, literally translated by Butcher and Lang and others as “godlike” (the word also literally means, according to the standard ancient Greek dictionary, “equal to the gods”). The epithet reveals as indicated in class lecture, and in context, typical Homeric: (a) ornateness (b) irony (c) archaism (d) exaggeration

15. Through juxtaposition of the first two main opening scenes and settings in Book 1 and elsewhere of Olympus (or Olympus), Ithaka (or Ithaca), Phaikia, Nestor's household, Polyphemos' household, etc., Homer generally explores the concept of: (a) utopia vs. dystopia (b) religious freedom vs. religious tyranny (c) romantic love vs. sexual love (d) capitalism vs. communism

16. In Book 1, in the council of gods held on Olympus, a repeated epithet for Athene (or Athena), much repeated throughout the Odyssey -- referring to her eyes -- is the Greek word glaukopsis, which is most accurately translated as: (a) “grey” (b) “calm” (c) ”bright” (d) “strong”

17. The focus of the epithet (and anatomical feature) referred to in the immediately preceding question emphasizes: (a) beauty (b) otherworldliness (c) strength (d) intelligence

18. In Book 1, the cleverness of Athene (Athena) in the persuasion of Zeus shows by how she repeatedly alludes to: (a) the war between the Titans and the Olympians (b) her own well-preserved virginity (c) the democratic government of Athens (d) the ecological value of preserving the natural environment

19. In Book 1, the very first activity described in which the suitors are engaging in the very first view of them when Athene (in her disguise of Mentes) first arrives -- at the very gate -- of the Telemachus / Penelope / Odysseus household (I.124-125) conveys the idea of their: (a) greed (b) risk (c) lust (d) thrift

20. Repeatedly in Book 1, in his descriptions after Athene (or Athena) arrives at Odysseus' manor, as well as throughout the Odyssey, Homer shows a fascination and love of: (a) female anatomy (b) papyrus (c) flower gardens (d) artifacts

21. According to Homer in Book 1 and later (e.g., in Books 5-8) -- and, presumably, reflective of ancient Greek thought of his time -- the crowning part of a banquet at its end was: (a) the iced dessert (b) a stimulating beverage similar to coffee (c) music and dance (d) male and female participants pairing off for amorous sporting (e) a game of darts (f) a nude woman popping out of a big cake

22. In Book 1, how Telemachus behaves in relation to his mother when she comes down stairs shows the beginning of his maturation through his: (a) dominance (b) considerateness (c) reverence (d) selflessness

23. As explained in NAWLS2 and class lecture/PNQ, the dawn formula that opens Book 2 (“Now so soon as early Dawn shone forth, the rosy-fingered” -- Butcher & Lang; "When primal Dawn spread on the eastern sky/ her fingers of pink light" -- Fitzgerald; “When young Dawn with her rose-rfed fingers shone once more” -- Fagles) -- and will be repeated many more times -- has one function of, for the purpose of oral recitation: (a) flourishing, to impress (b) alluding, to teach (c) backtracking, to sing (d) stalling, to remember

24. As explained in NAWLS2 and class lecture/PNQ, the dawn formula that opens Book 2 and will be repeated many more times -- has a thematic relevance to the idea, later shown in Book 2, of a: (a) conflict (b) plea (c) murder (d) storm (e) dishwashing miracle

25. In Book 2, when the islanders turn down Telemachus’ request for aid, their timidity is in conflict, through Homeric irony, with the implications of Homer’s repeated epithet referring to the Achaeans (or Akhaians) by their: (a) hair (b) legs (c) biceps (d) eye-color (e) fingernails

26. In Book 2, the suitors reveal themselves at the assembly to have all the following defects except which one: (a) irreverence toward the gods (b) disrespect to elders (c) treachery toward each other (d) threatening bullying toward others

27. In Book 2, the revelation of what Penelope had been doing at her loom primarily emphasizes her: (a) productivity (b) domesticity (c) artistic orientation (d) intelligence

28. In Book 3, the very first scene that he witnesses at Nestor’s household must bring which emotion most strongly to Telemachus: (a) sorrow (b) astonishment (c) joy (d) anger

29. In Book 3, the god to whom the ceremony is being dedicated at the Nestor household at the beginning of the book is an example of: (a) epic invocation to the muse (b) epic catalogue (c) Homeric digression (d) Homeric irony