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Reading Notes: Homer's Odyssey, Part A


In the story "The Cyclops Defeated," Odysseus and his crew have been captured by a Cyclops and trapped in his cave. Odysseus tries to think of an escape plan after the Cyclops begins eating some of the capture men. When the Cyclops leaves to tend to his flocks, Odysseus and his men take the Cyclops' club and fashion it into a spear. They plan on stabbing it into the Cyclops' eye when he falls asleep. When the Cyclops returns, Odysseus offers him wine under the ruse that he wants to give the Cyclops the wine as an offering so the Cyclops will not kill him. After giving him several glasses of wine, Odysseus tell the Cyclops his name is Nobody. When the Cyclops falls asleep, Odysseus and his men drive the heated olive wood stake into the Cyclops' eye, causing blood to pour out. The Cyclops runs outside to his fellow Cyclopes and they ask why he is yelling in pain, to which he replies Nobody is trying to harm it. The Cyclopes take this to mean that the harmed Cyclops is crazy.

I really like the description in this story. Each scene is described in great length and there are several details included. Small details such as that the Cyclops' club is made of green olive wood and the "ivy-wood bowl full of dark wine." I would like to include this level of detail in my story to keep the reader engaged like Homer does. Readers are able to visualize the scene when these types of details are included. I think this will be particularly important in the action scene in which Odysseus and his men stab the Cyclops in the eye. Homer includes lines such as "We took the red-hot stake and twisted it round and round like that in his eye, and the blood poured out despite the heat. His lids and brows were scorched by flame from the burning eyeball, and its roots crackled with fire."

I thought I had heard this story before (particularly the part about "Nobody") and after Googling I realized I had. I remembered it more as the story of Odysseus and Polyphemus, not Odysseus and the Cyclops. The name Polyphemus is not used until the very end of this story. I will probably use the name Polyphemus in my retelling because I think it make the story more recognizable.

The one part I know for sure I am going to include in my story is the part of "Nobody" and the Cyclops telling his neighbors that Nobody has stabbed him. This was what I remembered most about the story when I heard it before, because it is such a funny moment that I know I certainly was not expecting.

Odysseus and Polyphemus by Arnold Böcklin. Source: Wikipedia

Story Source: Homer's Odyssey, translated into English by Tony Kline
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