Exeter Academy 9th Grade Literature

How to Approach Close Reading Content Theme refers to the overarching meaning, message, or motif that the author explores or develops throughout the literary work. For example, a book that traces a solitary characters perilous journey through the wilderness may wish to convey the theme of: 1. mankinds futility in the face of natures might; 2. mans resourcefulness in unfamiliar situations; 3. the inexorable power and superiority of primal nature to urbane or cosmopolitan settings; 4. the importance of maintaining ones humanity in the wilderness, etc. While reading, it is important to analyze plot, character, and other elements of the content that might point to the authors underlying message or purpose. What are the major themes that the author tries to convey through the literary work? Instead of taking characters actions and plotted events at face value, critical thinking requires analyzing why characters may feel, act, or think a certain way. What kind of mentality or belief system lies at the core of each character? If the character evolves or changes during the course of the book, what exactly is this change, what causes the change, and what overall effect does the change have on the literary work as a whole? To an extent, close reading requires being willing to empathize with a character or aspects of a character while maintaining a critical objectivity; in addition, a deeper analysis of content should offer some kind of insight into human nature, society, or the world. Language Language refers to the authors use of rhetoric and style. Language can be elevated, meaning that it is extremely literary, poetic, or full of literary devices and techniques. It can be colloquial, meaning that it resembles everyday conversational language, or that it makes use of slang. It can use short, declarative sentences typical of a minimalist style, or use lush, syntactically complex sentences to cultivate a more Romantic air. Some writers may prefer to use very abstract language, while others may choose to use language that is much more straightforward and practical. Language can include tone and mood as well. The diction (word choice) and syntax (sentence structure) of the literary work inevitably contributes to its overall tone. The tone of a work can be humorous, grave, pained, pleading, lighthearted, didactic, ironic, or intimate, to identify just a few examples of commonly found tones in literature. It is particularly important to pay attention to the tone of the beginning and end of the book, as shifts in tone are key in understanding how the author wishes to express his or her theme. Note that tone, and even style, does not necessarily remain consistent throughout a literary work; the author may deliberately change both tone and style to reflect differences in characters voices, for example.

Literary Techniques The term literary techniques refers to the various literary devices the author uses throughout the work, including but not limited to imagery, symbolism, metaphor, simile, alliteration, deus ex machina, apostrophe, etc. Some techniques may be more dominant than others, and it is important to consider why this might be so. Literary techniques can be analyzed superficially in terms of what they may mean within the context of a sentence, paragraph or chapter but it may be more meaningful to consider how they affect the work as a whole, and how they contribute to any identified themes. Structure Structure refers to the way in which the book or literary work is organized. Structure can encompass many different kinds of organization from the works chronology to the point of view it is written in. It may also refer to the form and/or genre of the work. Many older British novels are epistolary that is, they consist of a collection of letters written by one or more characters in the novel. Questions to consider when reading an epistolary novel may include: What effect might this have on the way the characters of the work are developed by the author? Does what the character decides to reveal in the letters change according to whom the letter is addressed? In contemporary literature, authors have often experimented with form, blurring the line between poetry and prose, and even going so far as to toy with the physical organization of the book. For example, one author from the sixties chose to present his reader with a collection of loose chapters that are not bound in book form. The reader is expected to choose his or her own method of reading the chapters. In fact, the author recommends scattering the pages and reading them in a random order. A choose-your-own-adventure book is also a classic example of literature that experiments with the predetermined structure of a novel.

discussion Question Assignments Good discussion questions are designed to encourage critical thinking and push readers to go beyond the surface. This means that questions should not ask what happens as much as why does this happen? Questions should avoid asking What does the character do, and be geared more towards What motivates the character to do what s/he does? Discussion Question Exercise: Legend has it that Hemingway once won a bet by declaring that he could write a short story using fewer than ten words. Here is the alleged result: For sale: baby shoes, never worn. Despite being six words long, the story contains a multitude of narratives. Good discussion questions will take these narratives as a starting point and attempt to initiate a dialogue among readers about their possible meanings. Good discussion questions: 1. This story clearly emulates a classifieds ad in a newspaper or other kind of publication. Why do you think the poster of this ad chose to sell the new baby shoes instead of throwing them away? 2. Why do you think the author chose to word the last half of this ad as never worn instead of new? What is the difference, and why does this matter to the story? 3. What kinds of emotions are expressed by this simple ad? What does this ad tell you about the characters involved, and their relationship(s) with each other? Poor discussion questions: 1. What kind of baby shoes is the author talking about? 2. What happened in this story? 3. What happened to the baby? The good discussion questions stimulate dialogue and are open-ended, while the poor discussion questions tend to limit or restrict discussion, because they aim to arrive at a definite answer of sorts instead of encouraging a debate or a discussion.

Vocabulary - Mythologies
1. eon

Context: Nothing is clearer than the fact that primitive man, whether in New Guinea today or eons ago in the prehistoric wilderness, is not and never has been a creature who peoples his world with bright fancies and lovely visions. eon

2.

embroider

Context: The winds flee before her and the storm clouds; sweet flowers embroider the earth; the waves of the sea laugh; she moves in radiant light.

3.

devastate

He trusted her to carry the awful aegis, his buckler, and his devastating weapon, the thunderbolt.

4.

ambrosia

Within were the god' dwellings, where they lived and slept and feasted on ambrosia and nectar and listened to Apollo's lyre.

5.

nemesis

The same was true of two personified emotions esteemed highest of all feelings in Homer and Hesiod: NEMESIS, usually translated as Righteous Anger, and AIDOS, a difficult word to translate, but in common use among Greeks.

6.

venerate

Nevertheless she was venerated in every home.

7.

elysian

On his arrival each one is brought before three judges, Rhadamanthus, Minos, and Aeacus, who pass sentence and send the wicked to everlasting torment and the good to a place of blessedness called the Elysian Fields.

8.

aegis

His breastplate was the aegis, awful to behold; his bird was the eagle, his tree the oak.

9.

centaur

The satyrs are goat-men and the centaurs are half man, half horse.

10. circumvent

Hera kept silence then, but her thoughts were busy as to how she might help the Greeks and circumvent Zeus.

11. demoniac

The demoniac wizards and the hideous old witches who haunted Europe and America, too, up to quite recent years, play no part at all in the stories.

12. bestial

In Mesopotamia, bas-reliefs of bestial shapes unlike any beast ever known, men with birds' heads and lions with bulls' heads and both with eagles' sings, creations of artists who were intent upon producing something never seen except in their own minds, the very consummation of unreality.

13. omniscient

Nevertheless he was not omnipotent or omniscient, either.

14. trident

He was commonly called "Earth-shaker" and was always shown carrying his trident, a three-pronged spear, with which he would shake and shatter whatever he pleased.

15. compendium

Ovid is a compendium of mythology.

16. zephyr

The four chief Winds were BOREAS, the North Wind, in Latin AQUILO; ZEPHYR, the West Wind, which had a second Latin name, FAVONIUS; NOTUS, the South Wind, also called in Latin AUSTER; and the East Wind, EURUS, the sam in both Greek and Latin.

17. paralyze

That is the miracle of Greek mythology--a humanized world, men freed from theparalyzing fear of an omnipotent Unknown.

18. invulnerable

His mother Thetis when he was born had intended to make him invulnerable by dipping him into the River Styx, but she was careless and did not see to it that the water covered the part of the foot by which she was holding him.

19. displace

Gradually this Zeus displaced the others, until he occupied the whole scene.

20. topple

An entire tower standing on the roof of Priam's palace was lifted from its foundation andtoppled over.

21. prate

He wrote, I prate of ancient poets' monstrous lies, Ne'er seen or now or then by human eyes.

22. redoubtable

He never was to them the mean whining deity of the Iliad, but magnificent in shining armor, redoubtable, invincible.

23. revere

Chief among them in beauty, the glorious lady All the blessed in high Olympus revere, Honor even as Zeus, the lord of the thunder.

24. colossus

In Egypt, a towering colossus, immobile, beyond the power of imagination to endow with movement, as fixed in the stone as the tremendous temple columns, a representation of the human shape deliberately made inhuman.

25. beguile

APHRODITE (VENUS) The Goddess of Love and Beauty, who beguiled all, gods and men alike; the laughter-loving goddess, who laughed sweetly or mockingly at those her wiles had conquered; the irresistible goddess who stole away even the wits of the wise.

26. nectar

Within were the god' dwellings, where they lived and slept and feasted on ambrosia andnectar and listened to Apollo's lyre.

27. uninjured

The walls stood uninjured.

28. concise

The capture of Troy is the subject of the second book of the Aeneid, and it is one of the best, if not the best, story Virgil ever told--concise, pointed, vivid.

29. satyr

The satyrs are goat-men and the centaurs are half man, half horse.

30. anthropologist

How briefly the anthropologists treat the Greek myths is noteworthy.

31. discomfit

Hera was that stock character of comedy, the typical jealous wife, and her ingenious tricks to discomfit her husband and punish her rival, afar from displeasing the Greeks, entertained them as much as Hera's modern counterpart does us today.

32. suppliant

It is not very high, certainly, and seems chiefly applicable to others, not to himself; but he does punish men who lie and break their oaths; he is angered by any ill treatment of the dead; and he pities and helps old Priam when he goes as a suppliant to Achilles.

33. annihilate

Exulting the defenders saw it fall and annihilate a great band who were forcing the palace doors.

34. indisputable

The Iliad is, or contains, the oldest Greek literature; and it is written in a rich and subtle and beautiful language which must have had behind it centuries when men were striving to express themselves with clarity and beauty, and indisputable proof of civilization.

35. discerning

At this crisis a brother of Hector's, wise in discerning the will of the gods, urged Hector to go with all speed to the city and tell the Queen, his mother, to offer to Athena the most beautiful robe she owned and pray her to have mercy.

36. bane

She urged her horses to Olympus and asked Zeus if she might drive that bane of men, Ares, from the battlefield.

37. clarity

The Iliad is, or contains, the oldest Greek literature; and it is written in a rich and subtle and beautiful language which must have had behind it centuries when men were striving to express themselves with clarity and beauty, and indisputable proof of civilization.

38. prehistoric

Nothing is clearer than the fact that primitive man, whether in New Guinea today or eons ago in the prehistoric wilderness, is not and never has been a creature who peoples his world with bright fancies and lovely visions.

39. incarnate

Homer calls him murderous, bloodstained, the incarnate curse of mortals; and, strangely, a coward, too, who bellows with pain and runs away when he is wounded.

40. diffuse

No wind, Homer says, ever shakes the untroubled peace of Olympus; no rain ever falls there or snow; but the cloudless firmament stretches around it on all sides and the white glory of sunshine is diffused upon its walls.

41. omnipotent

That is the miracle of Greek mythology--a humanized world, men freed from the paralyzing fear of an omnipotent Unknown.

42. voluminous

Apollodorus, also a Greek, is, next to Ovid, the most voluminous ancient writer on mythology, but, unlike Ovid, he is very matter-of-fact and very dull.

43. bewail

Then Hector's soul flew forth from his body and was gone to Hades, bewailing his fate, leaving vigor and youth behind.

44. trinket

While the girls flocked around the trinkets, Achilles fingered the swords and daggers.

45. upbraid

"The other Trojans upbraid me," she said, "but always I had comfort from you through the gentleness of your spirit and your gentle words.

46. appropriately

Appropriately, his bird was the vulture.

47. buccaneer

The buccaneering chieftains in the Iliad did not want justice.

48. confuse

She was the sister of Helios, the sun-god with whom Apollo was confused.

49. erupt

A volcano erupts because a terrible creature is imprisoned in the mountain and every now and then struggles to get free.

50. mythical

A familiar local habitation gave reality to all the mythical beings.

51. primeval

Horrors lurked in the primeval forest, not nymphs and naiads.

52. irrational

It may seem odd to say that the men who made the myths disliked the irrational and had a love for facts; but it is true, no matter how wildly fantastic some of the stories are.

53. appease

One of her beloved wild creatures, a hare, had been slain by the Greeks, together with her young, and the only way to calm the wind and ensure a safe voyage to Troy was toappease her by sacrificing to her a royal maiden, Iphigenia, the eldest daughter of the Commander in Chief, Agamemnon.

54. reassure

If the mixture seems childish, consider how reassuring and how sensible the solid background is as compared with the Genie who comes from nowhere when Aladdin rubs the lamp and, his task accomplished, returns to nowhere.

55. prologue

Prologue: THE JUDGMENT OF PARIS The evil goddess of Discord, Eris, was naturally not popular in Olympus, and when the gods gave a banquet they were at to leave her out.

56. zenith

This second story is the better known, because of Milton's familiar lines: Mulciber was Thrown by angry Jove Sheer o'er the crystal battlements; from morn To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, A summer's day, and with the setting sun Dropt from the zenith like a falling star, On Lemnos, the Aegean isle.

57. inflexible

Or a rigid figure, a woman with a cat's head suggesting inflexible, inhuman cruelty.

58. onset

At the first onset of this new band of warriors the Trojans wavered; they thought Achilles led them on.

59. fleece

Neither has the Quest of the Golden Fleece, nor Orpheus and Eurydice, nor many another.

60. raiment

They clad her in raiment immortal, And brought her to the gods.

61. wily

It was, as anyone would guess, the creation of Odysseus' wily mind.

62. allegory

The great hero of mythology, Hercules, might be an allegory of Greece herself.

63. jovial

He was a jovial fat old man who usually rode an ass because he was too drunk to walk.

64. animate

And we for a moment can catch, through the myths he made, a glimpse of that strangely and beautifully animated world.

65. inexorable

He was unpitying, inexorable, but just; a terrible, not an evil god.

66. incarnation

Except in a story Homer and Hesiod tell, that Aglaia married Hephaestus, they are not treated as separate personalities, but always together, a triple incarnation of grace and beauty.

67. pinnacle

But only a little further on he says that if he willed he could hang earth and sea from apinnacle of Olympus, clearly no longer a mountain.

68. rustle

The god's will was revealed by the rustling of the oak leaves which the priests interpreted.

69. amorous

So, back of the stories of an amorous Zeus and a cowardly Zeus and a ridiculous Zeus, we can catch sight of another Zeus coming into being, as men grow continually more conscious of what life demanded of them and what human beings needed in the god they worshiped.

70. respite

But the success brought only a short respite.

71. ascribe

But Hesiod has much to say about the gods, and a second poem, usually ascribed to him, the Theogony, is entirely concerned with mythology.

72. implacable

Her implacable anger followed them and their children too.

73. pallid

Around it are wide wastes, wan and cold, and meadows of asphodel, presumably strange,pallid, ghostly flowers.

74. inconceivable

Laughter in the presence of an Egyptian sphinx or an Assyrian bird-beast wasinconceivable; but it was perfectly natural in Olympus, and it made the gods companionable.

75. pestilence

The Iliad, however, begins after the Greeks have reached Troy, when Apollo sends thepestilence upon them.

76. repute

When her suitors assembled in her home to make a formal proposal for her hand they were so many and from such powerful families that her reputed father, King Tyndareus, her mother's husband, was afraid to select one among them, fearing that the others would unite against him.

77. crafty

This was her doing, he said, her crafty, crooked ways.

78. laboring

Their longing for them was great enough to make them never give up laboring to see them clearly, until at last, the thunder and lightning were changed into the Universal father.

79. dupe

Poseidon dupes him in the Iliad and so does Hera.

80. havoc

But Diomedes raged on, working havoc in the Trojan ranks until he came face to face with Hector.

81. astronomy

Astronomy is what the Greek mind finally made out of the stars.

82. stratagem

The result of this new determination and new vision was the stratagem of the wooden horse.

83. discourage

The wooden horse had been made, he said, as a votive offering to Athena, and the reason for its immense size was to discourage the Trojans from taking it into the city.

84. waft

This sea-birth took place near Cythera, from where she was wafted to Cyprus.

85. preposterous

Hercules, whose life was one long combat against preposterous monsters, is always said to have had his home in the city of Thebes.

86. beneficent

Apollo at Delphi was purely a beneficent power, a direct link between gods and men, guiding men to know the divine will, showing them how to make peace with the gods; the purifier, too, able to cleanse even those stained with the blood of their kindred.

87. cleft

The trance was supposed to be caused by a vapor rising from a deep cleft in the rock over which her seat was placed, a three-legged stool, the tripod.

88. debris

Over the debris of the tower and the crushed bodies they battered the doors with it.

89. contrive

The story was clever enough to have had by itself, in all probability, the desired effect; but Poseidon, the most bitter of all the gods against Troy, contrived an addition which made the issue certain.

90. dissension

Up in Olympus there was dissension.

91. calculate

His plan was to leave a single Greek behind in the deserted camp, primed with a talecalculated to make the Trojans draw the horse into the city--and without investigating it.

92. slacken

Terror and Destruction and Strife, whose fury never slackens, all friends of the murderous War-god, were there to urge men on to slaughter each other.

93. conceivable

The story of Pygmalion and Galatea is an example; it has no conceivable connection with any event in nature.

94. abhor

They were tree, Clotho, the Spinner, who spun the thread of life; Lachesis, the Disposer of Lots, who assigned to each man his destiny; Atropos, she who could not be turned, who carried "the abhorred shears" and cut the thread at death.

95. contradictory

But the accounts of them are contradictory.

96. dubious

It does not mention the sacrificed of Iphigenia, and makes only a dubious allusion to the judgment of Paris.

97. ruthless

In the earliest account of her, the Iliad, she is a fierce and ruthless battle-goddess, but elsewhere she is warlike only to defend the State and the home from outside enemies.

98. chaste

It is a strange transformation from the lovely Huntress flashing through the forest, from the Moon making all beautiful with her light, from the pure Maiden-Goddess for whom Whoso is chaste of spirit utterly May gather leaves and fruits and flowers.

99. semblance

Until then, gods had no semblance of reality.

100. exult

All Troy exulted.

101. frivolous

He and three other Alexandrians, who also wrote about mythology, the pastoral poets Theocritus, Bion and Moschus, have lost the simplicity of Hesiod's and Pindar's belief in the gods, and are far removed from the depth and gravity of the tragic poets' view of religion; but they are not frivolous like Ovid.

102. august

As the idea of Zeus became loftier, two august forms sat beside him in Olympus.

103. devise

With this great encouragement the Greeks determined to wait no longer, but devise some way to put an end to the endless war.

104. investigating

His plan was to leave a single Greek behind in the deserted camp, primed with a tale calculated to make the Trojans draw the horse into the city--and without investigating it.

105. boar

They took part in the Calydonian boar-hunt; they went on the Quest of the Golden Fleece; and they rescued Helen when Theseus carried her off.

106. pierce

That armor was magical and could not be pierced.

107. fuse

When his worship spread to a town where there was already a divine ruler the two were slowly fused into one.

108. quench

When all was burned they quenched the flame with wine and gathered the bones into a golden urn, shrouding them in soft purple.

109. avenge

Zeus had by now remembered his promise to Thetis to avenge Achilles' wrong.

110. invincible

He never was to them the mean whining deity of the Iliad, but magnificent in shining armor, redoubtable, invincible.

111. allude

He wrote Odes in honor of the victors in the games at the great national festivals of Greece, and in every one of his poems myths are told or alluded to.

112. renown

The warriors of the great Latin heroic poem, the Aeneid, far from rejoicing to escape from him, rejoice when they see that they are to fall "on Mars' field of renown."

113. plausible

His name was sinon, and he was a most plausible speaker.

114. counterpart

Hera was that stock character of comedy, the typical jealous wife, and her ingenious tricks to discomfit her husband and punish her rival, afar from displeasing the Greeks, entertained them as much as Hera's modern counterpart does us today.

115. labored

The Odyssey speaks of "the divine for which all men long," and hundreds of years later Aristotle wrote, "Excellence, much and hundreds of years later Aristotle wrote, "Excellence, much labored for by the race of mortals."

116. taunt

The gods by now were fighting, too, as hotly as the men, and Zeus sittig apart in Olympus laughd pleasantly to himself when he saw god matched against god: Athena felling Ares to the ground; Hera seizing the bow of Artemis from her shoulders and boxing her ears with it this way and that; Poseidon provoking Apollo with taunting words to strike him first.

117. malicious

In later poems she is usually shown as treacherous and malicious, exerting a deadly and destructive power over men.

118. aloof

Or a monstrous mysterious sphinx, aloof from all that lives.

119. volcano

A volcano erupts because a terrible creature is imprisoned in the mountain and every now and then struggles to get free.

120. translate

The other notable Titans were OCEAN, the river that was supposed to encircle the earth; his wife TETHYS HYPERION, the father of the sun, the moon and the dawn; MNEMOSYNE, which means Memory; THEMIS, usually translated by Justice; and IAPETUS, impor

121. provoke

The gods by now were fighting, too, as hotly as the men, and Zeus sittig apart in Olympus laughd pleasantly to himself when he saw god matched against god: Athena felling Ares to the ground; Hera seizing the bow of Artemis from her shoulders and boxing her ears with it this way and that; Poseidon provoking Apollo with taunting words to strike him first.

122. apparition

In front of the Scaean gates stood an enormous figure of a horse, such a thing as no one had ever seen, an apparition so strange that it was vaguely terrifying, even though there was no sound or movement coming from it.

123. assemble

When her suitors assembled in her home to make a formal proposal for her hand they were so many and from such powerful families that her reputed father, King Tyndareus, her mother's husband, was afraid to select one among them, fearing that the others would unite against him.

124. revive

Apollo had revived the fainting Hector and breathed into him surpassing power.

125. discord

His sister is there, Eris, which means Discord, and Strife, her son.

126. dire

Of course the mythical monster is present in any number of shapes, Gorgons and hydras and chimaeras dire, but they are there only to give the hero his meed of glory.

127. wan

Around it are wide wastes, wan and cold, and meadows of asphodel, presumably strange, pallid, ghostly flowers.

128. ail

They met at Aulis, place of strong winds and dangerous tides, impossible to ail from as long as the north wind blew.

129. detest

ARES (MARS) The God of War, son of Zeus and Hera, both of whom, Homer says, detested him.

130. tranquil

But when he drove in his golden car over the waters, the thunder of the waves sank into stillness, and tranquil peace followed his smooth-rolling wheels.

131. forlorn

She led the young shepherd, with never a thought of Oenone left forlorn, straight to Sparta, where Menelaus and Helen received him graciously as their guest.

132. overseas

Odysseus, who was one of th shrewdest and most sensible men in Greece, did not want to leave his house and family to embark on a romantic adventure overseas for the sake of a faithless woman.

133. deprive

They succeeded in stealing the bow and arrows, but when it came to leaving the poor wretch alone there deprived of them, they could not do it.

134. interpreted

The god's will was revealed by the rustling of the oak leaves which the priestsinterpreted.

135. transformation

It is a strange transformation from the lovely Huntress flashing through the forest, from the Moon making all beautiful with her light, from the pure Maiden-Goddess for whom Whoso is chaste of spirit utterly May gather leaves and fruits and flowers.

136. rapture

What rapture to see the places empty, nothing in them now to fear.

137. oblige

When Calchas declared that Chryseis must be given back to her father, he had all the chiefs behind him and Agamemnon, greatly angered, was obliged to agree.

138. triple

Except in a story Homer and Hesiod tell, that Aglaia married Hephaestus, they are not treated as separate personalities, but always together, a triple incarnation of grace and beauty.

139. envelop

Apollo enveloped him in a cloud and carried him to sacred Pergamos, the holy place of Troy, where Artemis healed him of his wound.

140. treacherous

In later poems she is usually shown as treacherous and malicious, exerting a deadly and destructive power over men.

141. orbit

Heraclitus says, "Not even the sun will transgress his orbit but the Erinyes, the ministers of justice, overtake him."

142. investigate

His plan was to leave a single Greek behind in the deserted camp, primed with a tale calculated to make the Trojans draw the horse into the city--and without investigating it.

143. shroud

When all was burned they quenched the flame with wine and gathered the bones into a golden urn, shrouding them in soft purple.

144. cleave

The trance was supposed to be caused by a vapor rising from a deep cleft in the rock over which her seat was placed, a three-legged stool, the tripod.

145. ensure

One of her beloved wild creatures, a hare, had been slain by the Greeks, together with her young, and the only way to calm the wind and ensure a safe voyage to Troy was to appease her by sacrificing to her a royal maiden, Iphigenia, the eldest daughter of the Commander in Chief, Agamemnon.

146. vanquish

This spirit often turned the victors into the vanquished.

147. accurately

There is no way to date accurately any part of them.

148. pastoral

He and three other Alexandrians, who also wrote about mythology, the pastoral poets Theocritus, Bion and Moschus, have lost the simplicity of Hesiod's and Pindar's belief in the gods, and are far removed from the depth and gravity of the tragic poets' view of religion; but they are not frivolous like Ovid.

149. destructive

In later poems she is usually shown as treacherous and malicious, exerting a deadly anddestructive power over men.

150. presumably

Around it are wide wastes, wan and cold, and meadows of asphodel, presumably strange, pallid, ghostly flowers.

151. define

The later poets define the world of the dead more and more clearly as the place where the wicked are punished and the good rewarded.

152. ferry

An aged boatman named Charon ferries the souls of the dead across the water to the farther bank, where stands the adamantine gate to Tartarus (the name Virgil prefers).

153. exceeding

He felt shame before them and he told them he saw his own exceeding folly in allowing the loss of a mere girl to make him forget everything else.

154. rout

Patroclus, Achilles' beloved friend, saw the rout with horror.

155. celebrate

Except for Aeschylus' Persians, written to celebrate the victory of the Greeks over the Persians at Salamis, all the plays have mythological subjects.

156. cavern

In later poets there are various entrances to it from the earth through caverns and beside deep lakes.

157. satire

In Lucian's little satire, Apollo asks Hermes: "I say, why do we never see Castor and Pollux at the same time?"

158. reluctant

It made no difference to Hera how reluctant any of them were or how innocent the goddess treated them all alike.

159. frenzy

Then his frenzy left him.

160. kindred

Apollo at Delphi was purely a beneficent power, a direct link between gods and men, guiding men to know the divine will, showing them how to make peace with the gods; the purifier, too, able to cleanse even those stained with the blood of their kindred.

161. mirth

THE GRACES were three: Aglaia (Splendor), Euphrosyne (Mirth) and Thalia (Good Cheer).

162. vigor

Then Hector's soul flew forth from his body and was gone to Hades, bewailing his fate, leaving vigor and youth behind.

163. lurk

Horrors lurked in the primeval forest, not nymphs and naiads.

164. contradiction

Nevertheless, with one of those startling contradictions so common in mythology, she kept the Greek Fleet from sailing to Troy until they sacrificed a maiden to her.

165. epic

Clio was Muse of history, Urania of astronomy, Melpomene of tragedy, Thalia of comedy, Terpsichore of the dance, Calliope of epic poetry, Erato of love-poetry, Polyhymnia of songs to the gods, Euterpe of lyric poetry.

166. sentimental

And he does, often very prettily indeed, but in his hands the stories which were factual truth and solemn truth to the early Greek poets Hesiod and Pindar, and vehicles of deep religious truth to the Greek tragedians,become idle tales, sometimes witty and diverting, often sentimental and distressingly rhetorical.

167. applaud

All applauded the advice and Agamemnon confessed that he had acted like a fool.

168. hoof

He was Hermes' son; a noisy, merry god, the Homeric Hymn in his honor calls him; but he was part animal too, with a goat's horns, and goat's hoofs instead of feet.

169. splendor

There cannot be a greater contrast than that between his poem, the Works and Days, which tries to show men how to live a god life in a harsh world, and the courtly splendorof the Iliad an the Odyssey.

170. inspire

Yet he has a train of attendants on the battlefield which should inspire anyone with confidence.

171. dismay

There to his dismay he saw Ares too.

172. monstrous

Or a monstrous mysterious sphinx, aloof from all that lives.

173. identified

There is no doubt that at first it was held to be a mountain top, and generally identifiedwith Greece's highest mountain, Mt. Olympus in Thessaly, in the northeast of Greece.

174. infinitely

In that infinitely remote time primitive man could Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

175. classical

Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton Introduction to Classical Mythology Of old the Hellenic race was marked off from the barbarian as more keen-witted and more free from nonsense.

176. rational

With its coming, the universe became rational.

177. orphan

Hesiod, not much later than the Odyssey if at all, says of a man who does evil to the suppliant and the stranger, or who wrongs orphan children, "with that man Zeus is angry."

178. rejoice

Occasionally the heroes "rejoice in the delight of Ares' battle," but far oftener in having escaped "the fury of the ruthless god."

179. quest

Neither has the Quest of the Golden Fleece, nor Orpheus and Eurydice, nor many another.

180. animated

And we for a moment can catch, through the myths he made, a glimpse of that strangely and beautifully animated world.

181. banquet

They knew just what the divine inhabitants did there, what they ate and drank and where they banqueted and how they amused themselves.

182. strife

His sister is there, Eris, which means Discord, and Strife, her son.

183. shrewd

Of all the gods he was the shrewdest and most cunning; in fact he was the Master Thief, who started upon his career before he was a day old.

184. surpass

Circe and Medea are the only witches and they are young and of surpassing beauty--delightful, not horrible.

185. devour

He wrote, "Fishes and beasts and fowls of the air devour one another.

186. awe

Homer says that he felt awe to slay a man who had been taught his divine art by the gods.

187. tragic

Aeschylus, the oldest of the three tragic poets, was a contemporary of Pindar's.

Vocabulary - Definitions
1. eon

the longest division of geological time

2.

embroider

decorate with needlework

3.

devastate

cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly

4.

ambrosia

a mixture of nectar and pollen prepared by worker bees and fed to larvae

5.

nemesis

something causing misery or death

6.

venerate

regard with feelings of respect and reverence; consider hallowed or exalted or be in awe of

7.

elysian

relating to the Elysian Fields

8.

aegis

kindly endorsement and guidance

9.

centaur

(classical mythology) a mythical being that is half man and half horse

10. circumvent

surround so as to force to give up

11. demoniac

frenzied as if possessed by a demon

12. bestial

resembling a beast; showing lack of human sensibility

13. omniscient

infinitely wise

14. trident

a spear with three prongs

15. compendium

a publication containing a variety of works

16. zephyr

a slight wind (usually refreshing)

17. paralyze

make powerless and unable to function

18. invulnerable

immune to attack; impregnable

19. displace

cause to move, usually with force or pressure

20. topple

fall down, as if collapsing

21. prate

speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly

22. redoubtable

inspiring fear

23. revere

love unquestioningly and uncritically or to excess; venerate as an idol

24. colossus

someone or something that is abnormally large and powerful

25. beguile

influence by slyness

26. nectar

a sweet liquid secretion that is attractive to pollinators

27. uninjured

not injured physically or mentally

28. concise

expressing much in few words

29. satyr 30. anthropologist

a social scientist who specializes in anthropology

31. discomfit

cause to lose one's composure

32. suppliant

one praying humbly for something

33. annihilate

kill in large numbers

34. indisputable

not open to question; obviously true

35. discerning

having or revealing keen insight and good judgment

36. bane

something causing misery or death

37. clarity

free from obscurity and easy to understand; the comprehensibility of clear expression

38. prehistoric

belonging to or existing in times before recorded history

39. incarnate

possessing or existing in bodily form

40. diffuse

move outward

41. omnipotent

having unlimited power

42. voluminous

large in volume or bulk

43. bewail

regret strongly

44. trinket

cheap showy jewelry or ornament on clothing

45. upbraid

express criticism towards

46. appropriately

in an appropriate manner

47. buccaneer

someone who robs at sea or plunders the land from the sea without having a commission from any sovereign nation

48. confuse

mistake one thing for another

49. erupt

start abruptly

50. mythical

based on or told of in traditional stories; lacking factual basis or historical validity

51. primeval

having existed from the beginning; in an earliest or original stage or state

52. irrational

not consistent with or using reason

53. appease

cause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of

54. reassure

cause to feel sure; give reassurance to

55. prologue

an introduction to a play

56. zenith

the point above the observer that is directly opposite the nadir on the imaginary sphere against which celestial bodies appear to be projected

57. inflexible

incapable of change

58. onset

the beginning or early stages

59. fleece

the wool of a sheep or similar animal

60. raiment

especially fine or decorative clothing

61. wily

marked by skill in deception

62. allegory

a short moral story (often with animal characters)

63. jovial

full of or showing high-spirited merriment

64. animate

heighten or intensify

65. inexorable

not to be placated or appeased or moved by entreaty

66. incarnation

a new personification of a familiar idea

67. pinnacle

(architecture) a slender upright spire at the top of a buttress of tower

68. rustle

make a dry crackling sound

69. amorous

inclined toward or displaying love

70. respite

a (temporary) relief from harm or discomfort

71. ascribe

attribute or credit to

72. implacable

incapable of being placated

73. pallid

abnormally deficient in color as suggesting physical or emotional distress

74. inconceivable

totally unlikely

75. pestilence

a serious (sometimes fatal) infection of rodents caused by Yersinia pestis and accidentally transmitted to humans by the bite of a flea that has bitten an infected animal

76. repute

the state of being held in high esteem and honor

77. crafty

marked by skill in deception

78. laboring

doing arduous or unpleasant work

79. dupe

fool or hoax

80. havoc

violent and needless disturbance

81. astronomy

the branch of physics that studies celestial bodies and the universe as a whole

82. stratagem

a maneuver in a game or conversation

83. discourage

try to prevent; show opposition to

84. waft

be driven or carried along, as by the air

85. preposterous

incongruous;inviting ridicule

86. beneficent

doing or producing good

87. cleft

having one or more incisions reaching nearly to the midrib

88. debris

the remains of something that has been destroyed or broken up

89. contrive

make or work out a plan for; devise

90. dissension

disagreement among those expected to cooperate

91. calculate

make a mathematical calculation or computation

92. slacken

become slow or slower

93. conceivable

capable of being imagined

94. abhor

find repugnant

95. contradictory

of words or propositions so related that both cannot be true and both cannot be false

96. dubious

fraught with uncertainty or doubt

97. ruthless

without mercy or pity

98. chaste

pure and simple in design or style

99. semblance

an outward or token appearance or form that is deliberately misleading

100. exult

feel extreme happiness or elation

101. frivolous

not serious in content or attitude or behavior

102. august

of or befitting a lord

103. devise

come up with (an idea, plan, explanation, theory, or principle) after a mental effort

104. investigating

the work of inquiring into something thoroughly and systematically

105. boar

Old World wild swine having a narrow body and prominent tusks from which most domestic swine come; introduced in United States

106. pierce

cut or make a way through

107. fuse

an electrical device that can interrupt the flow of electrical current when it is overloaded

108. quench

satisfy (thirst)

109. avenge

take revenge for a perceived wrong

110. invincible

incapable of being overcome or subdued

111. allude

make a more or less disguised reference to

112. renown

the state or quality of being widely honored and acclaimed

113. plausible

apparently reasonable and valid, and truthful

114. counterpart

a person or thing having the same function or characteristics as another

115. labored

lacking natural ease

116. taunt

aggravation by deriding or mocking or criticizing

117. malicious

having the nature of or resulting from malice

118. aloof

remote in manner

119. volcano

a fissure in the earth's crust (or in the surface of some other planet) through which molten lava and gases erupt

120. translate

restate (words) from one language into another language

121. provoke

call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses)

122. apparition

a ghostly appearing figure

123. assemble

create by putting components or members together

124. revive

cause to regain consciousness

125. discord

lack of agreement or harmony

126. dire

fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless

127. wan

(of light) lacking in intensity or brightness; dim or feeble

128. ail

be ill or unwell

129. detest

dislike intensely; feel antipathy or aversion towards

130. tranquil

(of a body of water) free from disturbance by heavy waves

131. forlorn

marked by or showing hopelessness

132. overseas

beyond or across the sea

133. deprive

take away possessions from someone

134. interpreted

understood in a certain way; made sense of

135. transformation

a qualitative change

136. rapture

a state of being carried away by overwhelming emotion

137. oblige

force somebody to do something

138. triple

having three units or components or elements

139. envelop

enclose or enfold completely with or as if with a covering

140. treacherous

dangerously unstable and unpredictable

141. orbit

the (usually elliptical) path described by one celestial body in its revolution about another

142. investigate

investigate scientifically

143. shroud

a line that suspends the harness from the canopy of a parachute

144. cleave

separate or cut with a tool, such as a sharp instrument

145. ensure

make certain of

146. vanquish

come out better in a competition, race, or conflict

147. accurately

with few mistakes

148. pastoral

of or relating to a pastor

149. destructive

causing destruction or much damage

150. presumably

by reasonable assumption

151. define

determine the essential quality of

152. ferry

a boat that transports people or vehicles across a body of water and operates on a regular schedule

153. exceeding

far beyond what is usual in magnitude or degree

154. rout

a disorderly crowd of people

155. celebrate

behave as expected during of holidays or rites

156. cavern

any large dark enclosed space

157. satire

witty language used to convey insults or scorn

158. reluctant

unwillingness to do something contrary to your custom

159. frenzy

state of violent mental agitation

160. kindred

group of people related by blood or marriage

161. mirth

great merriment

162. vigor

forceful exertion

163. lurk

lie in wait, lie in ambush, behave in a sneaky and secretive manner

164. contradiction

opposition between two conflicting forces or ideas

165. epic

a long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds

166. sentimental

given to or marked by sentiment or sentimentality

167. applaud

clap one's hands or shout after performances to indicate approval

168. hoof

the foot of an ungulate mammal

169. splendor

a quality that outshines the usual

170. inspire

heighten or intensify

171. dismay

lower someone's spirits; make downhearted

172. monstrous

abnormally large

173. identified

having the identity known or established

174. infinitely

without bounds

175. classical

of or relating to the most highly developed stage of an earlier civilisation and its culture

176. rational

consistent with or based on or using reason

177. orphan

a child who has lost both parents

178. rejoice

feel happiness or joy

179. quest

a search for an alternative that meets cognitive criteria

180. animated

having life or vigor or spirit

181. banquet

a ceremonial dinner party for many people

182. strife

lack of agreement or harmony

183. shrewd

marked by practical hardheaded intelligence

184. surpass

distinguish oneself

185. devour

destroy completely

186. awe

an overwhelming feeling of wonder or admiration

187. tragic

very sad; especially involving grief or death or destruction