Directions:
Let’s take the big picture of a topic and narrow it down to one word. Choose one prompt below for your focus. In a short paragraph, share the word you chose
and answer the following questions:
Why did you choose that word?
How does it cover the big ideas?
Use specific details from the readings from this class, or your own experiences and knowledge, to support your choice of your word.
Prompt 1:
In this lesson, you read two texts about the Sirens and the song of the Sirens. The topic for this Word Journal is the Sirens. Choose one adjective to describe
the Sirens as presented in the adapted Homer text “The Sirens: Scylla and Charybdis; Thrinacia I.” Then explain your word choice.
Background: The Odyssey
The Odyssey is the second of two epic poems written by the Greek poet Homer. Homer’s first poem, The Iliad, tells of the intrigues and events of the final
weeks of the Trojan War. In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was a conflict waged by the Greeks against the city of Troy. The trouble began when Paris, Troy’s
leader, took Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world, from her husband, the leader of Sparta, a Greek city-state. Although the story spans only a few
weeks, it provides rich background information about Greek gods and goddesses, Greek legends of the conflict, and earlier events of the war. The Iliad
introduces Odysseus, King of Ithaca, who is the voice of reason and a pillar of self-control among the more volatile characters on the side of the Greeks.
Odysseus returns in The Odyssey, a poem that recounts his 10-year journey home from the Trojan War to Ithaca and his family. Odysseus faces numerous
challenges in the voyage home, including conflicts with the gods, encounters with mythical creatures, and difficulties managing the crew he travels with. In
The Odyssey, Odysseus is depicted as heroic, strong, and shrewd. However, like every classic Greek hero, he has a major flaw: pride. When his pride turns to
arrogance, or hubris, Odysseus runs into trouble. Fortunately, Odysseus is able to learn from his experiences, heed the advice of others, and apply his sharp
intelligence to reach home.
This excerpt from The Odyssey describes Odysseus’s encounter with the Sirens, mythical bird-woman creatures believed to be daughters of the river god
Achelous. Sirens are depicted in different ways in works of art and in literature; some say there were two Sirens, others three. Some portray the Sirens with
women’s heads and bird bodies, others with bird legs, but human upper bodies. While their appearance is intriguing, it is the Siren’s song that makes them
notorious. From their island home, the Sirens sang enchanting, haunting songs that lured passing sailors toward their island, where their ships would crash
on the rocky shore. The island’s shores were said to be littered with the bones of dead sailors. Only a few men were known to have heard the Siren’s song and
lived to tell about it. One of these men was Odysseus.
Examining a Source Text: The Odyssey
Read the excerpt from The Odyssey in which the sorceress Circe provides Odysseus and his men with a plan to resist the Sirens’ song and safely continue
their journey.
From “The Sirens: Scylla and Charybdis; Thrinacia I”
By Homer, as adapted by H. L. Havell
After the evening meal Circe drew Odysseus apart, and questioned him on all that he had seen and heard on that strange journey, from which he had
returned, as she said, like one ransomed from death. And when he had told his story she instructed him as to the course which he had to steer on leaving the
island, and warned him against the manifold perils of the voyage.
“First,” said she, “thou wilt come to the rocks of the Sirens, maidens of no mortal race, who beguile the ears of all that hear them. Woe to him who draws near
to listen to their song! He shall never see the faces of his wife and children again, or feel their arms about his neck, but there he shall perish, and there his
bones shall rot. Therefore take heed, and when thou drawest near the place stop the ears of thy men with wax, and bid them bind thee fast with cords, that
thou mayest hear the song of the Sirens. And when that seducing melody fills thine ears, thou wilt beg and implore thy comrades to set thee free, that thou
mayest draw near and have speech of the Sirens. Then let them bind thee more firmly to the mast, and take to their oars, and fly the enchanted rocks.”
. . .
In the distance a low-lying coast appeared, which Odysseus knew to be the island of the Sirens. Forthwith he began to make his preparations to meet the
danger which lay before them. Taking a ball of wax he cut it into small pieces, and having worked each piece in his hand until it was soft and plastic he
carefully stopped the ears of all his men with the wax. Then two of the crew, to whom he had already given his orders, bound him hand and foot to the mast
of the vessel. All being ready, they rowed forward until they came within full view of the island. And there, in a low-lying meadow hard by the sea, sat the
Sirens; lovely they were of aspect, and gracious of mien; but all around them were piled the bones of men who had fallen victims to their wicked wit, fleshless
ribs, from which the skin still hung in yellow shreds, and grinning skulls, gazing with eyeless sockets at the sea.
As the ship drew near, the whole choir lifted up their voices and began to sing a sweet and piercing strain, which thrilled the very marrow of Odysseus as he
listened. The winds hovered near on flagging wing, the sea lay locked in deep repose, and all nature paused with attentive ear, to catch the SONG OF THEAs the frail vessel perisheth
In the whirls of their unwieldy play;
Look down! Look down!
Upon the seaweed, slimy and dark,
That wa
ves its arms so lank and brown,
Beckoning for thee!
Look down beneath thy wa
ve-worn bark
Into the cold depth of the sea!
Look down! Look down!
Thus, on Lif
e’s lonely sea,
Heareth the mariner
e
Voices sad, from far and near, Ever singing full of fear, Ever singing drearfully.
Here all is pleasant as a dream;
The wind scarce shaketh down the dew,
The green grass
floweth like a stream
Into the ocean’s blue;
Listen! Oh, listen!
Here is a gush of many streams,
A song of many birds,
And e
very wish and longing seems
Lulled to a numbered
flow of words,—
Listen! Oh, listen!
Here e
ver hum the golden bees
Underneath full-blossomed trees, At once with glowing fruit and flowers crowned;—
So smooth the sand, the yellow sand,
That thy keel will not grate as it touches the land;
All around with a slumberous sound,
The singing wa
ves slide up the strand,
And there, where the smooth, wet pebbles be
The waters gurgle longingly,
As if they fain would seek the shore, To be at rest from the ceaseless roar, To be at rest forevermore,— Forevermore.
Thus, on Lif
e’s gloomy sea,
Heareth the mariner
e
Voices sweet, from far and near, Ever singing in his ear,
“Here is rest and peace for thee!”