-
Stylistic analysis of
The Odyssey
: Athena Inspires
the Prince
1.
Introduction
The
Odyssey
is one of two major ancient
Greek epic poems attributed to Homer
(Wikipedia:
Odyssey
),
which
owns
an
unshakable
status
in
western
history.
As
is
considered as the fundamental
cornerstone of western literacy,
the
Odyssey
, the sequel
to
Iliad,
tells a story on the
Greek hero Odysseus
’
returning home
—
Ithaca. After
the
fall
of
Troy,
Odysseus
struggles
in
a
tough
journey
for
ten
years
before
he
reaches
home.
The
original
version
of
the
Odyssey
was
written
by
ancient
Greek
but
not
English.
Until
now
it
has
been
translated
into
many
modern
languages
around
the
world.
The
following
discussion
is
based
on
one
of
English
editions:
The
Odyssey
:
(Penguin
Classics Deluxe Edition), translated by Robert
Fagles.
Athena
Inspires
the
Prince
is
the
book
one
of
the
Odyssey
telling
a
story
that
goddess Athena inspires the son of
Odysseus to get ready for welcoming his
father
’
s
back. As
the opening part, this chapter plays a significant
role on unfolding the story.
This paper
makes an analysis of 1-123 lines verses excerpted
from book one from a
perspective
of
stylistics,
in
order
to
presents
a
further
understanding
on
the
literal
value
of
the Odyssey
.
2.
Linguistic frameworks and linguistic
tools
According to modern linguistics,
a text could be divided into different language
levels: medium of language, formal
level, discourse and context. In this paper,
several
linguistic
tools
such
as
alliteration,
repetition
and
some
linguistic
frameworks
including
Leech
’
s
semantics
theory,
Halliday
’
s
functional
grammar
and
Labov
’
s
narrative structure are used to make a
reasonable analysis inner the text.
3.
Linguistic
analysis and foregrounding
3.1
Foregroundings in the sound pattern
The Odyssey
was dictated and
written by Homer in ancient Greek composed in a
dactyl hexameter (also known as
“
heroic
hexameter
”
), which is
considered the most
proper poetic form
used in the epic to portray a heroic
image. When translated into
English,
the
Rodney
Merrill
’
s
edition
is
widely
acknowledged
for
recapturing
the
dactyl hexameter of the origin work
with fidelity.
By
contrast,
the
Robert
Fagles
’
edition,
which
this
paper
centers
on,
is
much
freer in rhythms and
rhymes. The change from dactyl hexameter into free
verse brings
out a foregrounding in
sound pattern of this book. Though without strict
intonation,
Fagles still uses
alliteration and thymes in some verses. Here are
some examples:
Example 1:
Sing to me of the man, muse, the man of
twists and turns
driven time
and again off course, once he had plundered
the hallowed heights of
Troy
Example 2:
fighting to save his life and bring his
comrades home
1
But he could not save them from
disaster, hard as he strove
—
Example 3:
Launch out on his
story, muse, daughter of Zeus,
start
from where you will
—
sing for
our time too.
Three groups
of words
me, man, muse, man
and
twists and turns
and
hallowed
heights
in the example 1 use alliteration and
other two examples show a rhyme used
of
/
?
/ in words
home
and
strove
, and
also /u: / in
Muse
,
Zeus
and
too
. Free verse with
a
little use of alliterations
and rhymes
either
makes the
text
smooth on structure or
brings a phonetic beauty on reading.
3.2
Lexicon analysis
In
Leech
’
s
theory
(1974),
a
word
often
has
seven
types
of
meanings.
Besides
lexical
meaning,
a
single
word
also
has
connotative
meaning,
social
meaning,
affective
meaning,
reflected
meaning,
collocative
meaning
and
thematic
meaning.
There are many
complement elements of
characters
’
names in the
text used to portray
images, express
affection, and reflect culture background.
Examples:
The man
Agamemnon
’
s son, renowned
Orestes
Father, son of Cronus, our high
and mighty king
The guide, the giant-
killer Hermes
And sparkling-eyed Athena
These complements
give further information
about
the background or
decipher
characteristic
of
gods.
When
talking
with
Zeus,
Athena
starts
with
“
Father,
son
of
Cronus,
our
high
and
mighty
king
”
.
Words
“
high
and
mighty
king
”
portrays
a
powerful and formidable Zeus and makes
this image so impressive to readers. Athena,
also,
by
saying
“
high
and
mighty
”
,
shows
respect
and
praise
to
her
father.
There
is
connotative meaning between
sparking-eyed
and smartness,
which portrays Athena a
goddess full of
wisdom. In addition, using complement elements
when referring to a
god is a writing
style in Homer
’
s time.
Repetition
is
pervasive
in
poems
as
a
useful
tool
to
make
foregroundings.
Phrases like
his home, his
native lands, his own land
and
verbs
reach
and
return,
are
repeated
in
the
text
to
emphasize
the
keen
desire
of
Odysseus
to
come
back
home,
making
this figure more vivid.
3.3
Grammatical
analysis and foregroundings at the grammatical
level
Halliday
(2004)
in
his
functional
linguistics
states
that
language
has
three
metafunctions,
which
are
ideational
function,
interpretational
function
and
textual
function. In the second function,
Halliday explains that one uses language to
express
his comments, attitudes and
evaluations, and also of the
relationship that he sets up
between
him
and
the
listener
—
particularly
the
communication
role
he
adopts.
The
interpretational
function
subsumes
both
the
expressive
and
the
curative
(Halliday,
2
2004) .In this part, we
mainly discuss on Athena
’
s
language and analyze her attitude
and
her communication role.
The
poem starts in the third
person
’
s view. But from 36
to 112 lines, the poem is
developed by
dialogues between Athena and Zeus. Zeus, who
starts the conversation,
expresses his
shames on the way these mortals blame the gods by
telling a story on
Aegisthus.
Zeus
says
Aegisthus
and
the
like
all
deserve
to
die
by
their
violation
to
gods
’
warning.
Then Athena says:
Father, son of
Cronus, our high and mighty king,
surely he goes down to a death he
earned in full!
Let them all die so,
all who do such things.
But my heart
breaks for Odysseus,
that seasoned
veteran cursed by fate so
long
—
far from
his loved ones still, he suffers torments
off on a wave-washed island rising at
the center of the seas.
A dark wooded
island, and there a goddess makes her
home
…
Athena,
firstly expressing her agreement with Zeus, says
“
Let them all die so, all
who do such
things
.
”
Immediately she turns the topic to Odysseus by
saying
“
But my
heart breaks for
Odysseus
”
. Athena adopts the
communication role as a persuader; all
she wants is
persuade her
father,
Zeus,
to
permit
Odysseus returning
home. Athena
then uses some descriptive
words such as
cursed, suffers torments,
wave-washed, dark
wooded
to
picture a horrible condition Odysseus is suffering
in order to express her
sympathetic
attitude
to
hero
Odysseus.
Finally,
Athena
ends
her
words
by
three
rhetorical questions:
have you no care for him in your lofty
heart?
Did he never win your favor with
sacrifices
burned beside the ships on
the broad plain of Troy?
Why, Zeus, why
so dead set against Odysseus?
At the
end of her words, Athena emphasizes her strong
sympathy to Odysseus
’
s
unfortunate
again,
which
is
corresponding
to
the
beginning
words
“
But
my
heart
breaks
for Odysseus
”
.
By
asking question, Athena
’
s
mood is gradually stronger and
reaches
the
top
at
the
last
question.
That
is
to
say,
Athena
can
’
t
help
showing
her
affection for the
hero
’
s unfair condition.
Zeus
totally
agrees
with
her.
But
he
explains
that
all
gods
have
agreed
to
let
Odysseus
return
home
except
Poseidon
whose
son
was
killed
by
Odysseus.
On
hearing the fact that Odysseus is now
permitted to come back, Athena says:
let
us dispatch the guide and giant-
killer
Hermes…
…
While I myself go down to
Ithaca, rouse his son
to a braver
pitch, inspire his heart with courage
Athena actively suggests Zeus to
dispatch Hermes to announce this message in
Odysseus
’
s
hometown.
Also,
she is
volunteered to
go
inspiring
Odysseus
’
s son
and
giving
him
courage
to
prepare
for
welcoming
his
father
back.
Noticing
Athena
’
s
pleasure
when
she
learns
Odysseus
could
return
home,
we
tend
to
reply
her
admiration to Odysseus.
3
3.4
Discourse
analysis
Appraisal theory, put by
Martin & White (2005), is divided into three
categories:
affection,
judgment
and
appreciation.
All
of
three
can
be
positive
or
negative.
Affection
refers
to
one
’
s
mood,
emotion
or
feelings;
judgment
is
used
to
judge
a
person
and
his
actions
proper
or
not,
according
to
a
certain
principle,
usually,
containing
social
esteem
and
social
sanction.
Thirdly,
appreciation
refers
to
one
’
s
evaluation
on
materials.
This
text
is
foregrounded
for
main
utility
of
affection
and
judgment.
In
his
opening
words,
Zeus
expresses
his
anger
and
disappointment
on
mortal
people for their not
respecting immortal powers by using words:
shameless, reckless,
hardened
heart
,
and
etc.
And
in
his
second
dialog,
Zeus
tells
a
story
on
Poseidon,
implicitly deciphering his negative
judgment on Poseidon, which we can reply that He
is a vindictive god by
Zeus
’
s saying:
Lord Poseidon, I trust, will let his anger
go
.
In
Athena’
s part, she
expresses, most obviously, the sympathy and
admiration to
Odysseus by using words
with positive praising meanings:
seasoned veteran, wise
and
like words.
3.5
Textual
structure analysis
According
to
Labov
’
s
narrative
structure
(1972),
the
text
forms
a
textual
foregrounding by using deviation in
narrative orders.
By
analyzing the text we find
that factual order of the story Athena
and Zeus are talking about on Odysseus should
be like following: Firstly, thanks to
Odysseus, our hero, Troy finally fell. Then heroes
started their journey back home. But
Odysseus killed the son of Poseidon, who raged
on
Odysseus
and
captured
him.
Then
all
soldiers
came
back
native
lands
except
Odysseus, who have to be the captive on
a dark island. Finally, all gods are pleased to
let our hero to go back home.
When
unfolded
in
the
text,
the
story
starts
with
all
gods
are
pleased
to
let
Odysseus back, which
differs from the factual order, bringing out a
foregrounding for
the poem.
4.
Stylistic
interpretation
As
one
of
the
most
important
epic
poems
in
western
history,
The
Odyssey
deserves
its status. We now have a brief impression about
the reason in this paper.
First
of
all,
the
shift
from
dactyl
hexameter
to
free
verses,
more
like
an
issue
about translation,
makes the complicated epic easier to be understood
and to be told
smoothly. Some use of
alliterations and rhymes reserves some poetic
elegance of the
epic.
On the
second place, the text we talk in this paper
unfolds by dialogues between
two major
characters. It brings out a foregrounding in
grammar and discourse level.
On the one
hand, with few descriptive scripts, major
characters are portrayed in the
indirect way. For example, Zeus and
Athena show their personalities and affections by
what and how they talk. Other two major
figures, Odysseus and Poseidon, are mainly
portrayed indirectly by
Zeus
and Athena
’
s judgment
in
their
dialogues.
In this
way,
the
text
is
foregrounded
by
Homer
’
s
understatement
so
that
makes
the
great
work
4