#fagles

This book was still pretty fresh in my memory. I started off teaching The Odyssey this year with one week o'fun: both honing in on the first four books (much condensed) and facilitating group research projects (on the modern-day equivalents of Odyssey's stops, presented on the day we read that section).

I introduced the same ideas girlwithalessonplan pointed out, alternating between reading together and -- as an experiment -- just listening to the audio without the text in front of us. The students didn't love that part, but I thought it was a fun way to connect with oral tradition and save paper.

I like the interactions between the gods in this book--and the going behind of Poseidon's back to release Odysseus finally. Zeus talks about Aegisthus (Agamemnon's killer), saying, "Ah how shameless--the way these mortals blame the gods. From us alone, they say, come all their miseries, yes, but they themselves, with their own reckless ways, compound their pains beyond their proper share." Beyond their proper share. It's a great insight into the gods, and a parallel that very much applies to Odysseus. Like, yeah we dish out bad shit and it's not always fair, but you made it worse because of how you chose to react to the bad shit.