I believe that Homer is very successful in shaping his narrative. He implores many different techniques and stylistic devices throughout The Odyssey
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turnzillor (student)
The Odyssey Exam Questions – Homer’s narrative classics
c) Homer makes this passage dramatic in several different ways. Firstly, he draws the reader in to the passage and makes it easy for the reader to imagine if they were they by appealing to the senses, for example the ‘ring’ of the metal on the floor causes the scene to appear more vivid and dramatic for the reader, as if they can actually hear the noise. Homer also uses certain techniques such as the rule of three when describing Eurycleia’s joy, ‘Delight and anguish...her eyes were filled with tears; her voice stuck in her throat.’ This heightens the delight that she feels and adds to the atmosphere of the moment. The passage is also dramatic due to the fact that Odysseus is desperate to keep his identity a secret; the scene is at a peak when Odysseus ‘seeks and grips the old woman’s throat’, a woman that had ‘suckled him at her own breast’, thus creating a dramatic and dangerous scene. Another technique that is used in the passage is dramatic irony, as we, the audience knows that the beggar is in fact Odysseus and Homer builds up suspense and dramatizes the scene as we do not know whether he will be recognized by Eurycleia.
