1.

As you read identify and pay attention to the characterizations of the poem's main characters: Achille, Hector, Helen, Dennis Plunkett, Maud Plunkett, Seven Seas, Philoctete, Ma Kilman. In what sense is the narrator also a major character in the poem? How does he characterize himself? How do the names of Achille, Hector, and Helen relate these characters to previous figures in the epic tradition? Beyond these what other characters seem modeled on familiar figures from the epic tradition? Consider in general the theme of names and the meaning they carry for these characters, other characters, and places in the world of Omeros. What is the significance of the name "Omeros" itself (cf. chap. II, section III)?

2.

Related to the previous question about names, how does the poem manifest the epic theme of the relationship of the present to the past? Consider different forms which the past takes for characters in Omeros: ancestors, history, the succession of one culture by another. Parallel to this for the poet and the readers of Omeros the epic tradition itself is an important manifestation of the past. Look for specific allusions to the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid. Where do these occur? What do they add to the poem?

3.

To what degree does Omeros present the formal characteristics of epic poetry? What formal features can you identify that have precedent in epic poetry? Are their specific scenes or events which seem to draw directly on epics we have previously read in this course? If so, how are these incorporated into the story? At the same time what immediate differences do you notice between this poem and the previous epics?

4.

Important themes of Omeros, including the contemporary legacy of slavery and European colonization of the Americas, have no obvious equivalents in the epic traditions of ancient Greece and Rome. Are there any shared characteristics? What themes in ancient epic play the role which this theme does in Omeros. Where have we seen the theme of empire expressed in previous epic?