The Muse in Homer's "Odyssey"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the role and the importance of the muse in Homer's "Odyssey." It discusses the importance of the muse on storytelling in general and how the narrator of "Odyssey" invokes the muse for further storytelling support. The paper describes the impact that the muse has on any of the characters in Homer's "Odyssey."

From the Paper:

"Before Odysseus is introduced, the narrator invokes the Muse to ask for her assistance in retelling Odysseus' adventures. The Muse therefore has the most noticeable impact on the narrator of the story. In the first book, the narrator suggests that Odysseus' story belongs not to him but to the Muses. The Muse receives her information not as humans do through the five senses but from some mysterious source: as if from the divine database of human affairs. The narrator simply serves as a channel for the Muse's wisdom and the medium through which it is transmitted. Therefore, the Muse is what makes Odysseus' story timeless. If the narrator must invoke the Muse before telling the story, Homer suggests that the story is in fact timeless and immortal like the gods. The Muse helps humans to tell and retell stories like Homer's to learn meaningful moral lessons. She gave "both good and evil" to Demodocus too, indicating that the Muse is a neutral spiritual force."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Quotes taken from The Odyssey by Homer. Translation by Samuel Butler. Available online at http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.html

More papers on The Muse in Homer's "Odyssey":

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• Analytical Essay # 54258 : "The Muse's Tragedy"
• Essay # 38407 : "The Myth of the Underworld in Homer, Virgil and Ovid"

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