swimmermom3 Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 What classic works can you think of that are related to the Iliad and the Odyssey? My kids seem to enjoy "units" related to a classic work. We first did this using some materials online from an AP Literature teacher who combined Beowulf with a poem by contemporary British poet, U.A. Fanthorpe, and a 17th or 18th century painting. The idea is to study the original Great Book and then to study some of the works of literature, art, and music that have been inspired by that work. Think the myth of Prometheus and then Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Or my oldest son working backwards from a Metallica song to be inspired to read Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls on his own and studying Donne's poem of the same name in school. The best results come from being able to tie to classic works together and then movies and popular music are just the icing on the cake, so to speak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 Well, Ulysses, but that's probably a bit much. Some of the Sindbad stories have an Odyssey feel to them. John Barth's Tidewater Tales is woven around the Odyssey, but is long, and has some adult content. The Penelopiad is very good if you like dark humour (but not "classic"). I dont' recall anything inappropriate, but I read it about seven years ago. O Brother, Where Are Thou? for icing. :D Maybe Aeschylus and/or Troilus and Cressida? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 The Orestia (and many other Greek tragedies) The Aeneid Dante's Divine Comedy (he meets Odysseus in the Inferno) Kazantzakis: Odyssey: A Modern Sequel Tennyson: Ulysses Margaret Atwood: Penelopiad there are also tons of adaptations that are not exactly classics, but rather popular literature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 Well like nmoria, I do think, well Joyce wrote a little novel on the theme, but I do think that is a bit much. For more comparative lit, you could try 1001 Tales and focus on the Voyages of Sinbad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfamily Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 This is not literature or a classic, but I'm going to have my older dd read this book later this year while/after reading the Odyssey: The Glorious Adventure by Richard Halliburton http://www.amazon.co...ard halliburton She read his Book of Marvels and really enjoyed it. I'm having her read it for geography. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Lavinia (by Le Guin) is a retelling of the Aeneid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 How about Led Zeppelin's song Achilles Last Stand? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amy58103 Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Have you seen this: http://www.learner.org/resources/series212.html Scroll down to the bottom of the page ... click on the title of the book you are interested in (i.e. The Odyssey) ... then click on Explore > Connections. Listed there should be several related books, movies, music, etc. There is loads of other information here. Could be a great resource for creating a "unit studies" in World Literature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reya Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Leda and the Swan, too. TONS of art. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAIMOM Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Have you seen this: http://www.learner.o.../series212.html Scroll down to the bottom of the page ... click on the title of the book you are interested in (i.e. The Odyssey) ... then click on Explore > Connections. Listed there should be several related books, movies, music, etc. There is loads of other information here. Could be a great resource for creating a "unit studies" in World Literature. :hurray: This looks good. We are reading Odyssey after Christmas. Thanks for the info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Medea and Beloved and this: http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Medea-Family-Slavery-Child-Murder/dp/0809069547 But I'm not sure I'd want to do this with a teen. It's pretty upsetting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathwonk Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 some parts of don quixote. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Sometimes when you look works up on wikipedia they'll give you lists of movies, other works that were inspired by them, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Calvin read the Penelopiad (the Odyssey from Penelope's point of view) by Margaret Atwood. He didn't feel it was her best book, but it's worth a thought. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Forgot: Goethe's Faust includes scenes with Helen of Troy. However, it is the second part which is more difficult. I've only read Goethe but you could check the Marlowe play for this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Derek Walcott's epic poem Omeros (Greek for "Homer") includes a lot of references to both the Iliad & Odyssey. It's set in St. Lucia. Here's an excerpt: Hector was buried near the sea he had loved once. Not too far from the shallows where he fought Achille for a tin and Helen. He did not hear the sea-almond’s moan over the bay when Philoctete blew the shell, nor the one drumbeat of a wave-thud, nor a sail rattling to rest as its day’s work was over, and its mate, gauging depth, bent over the gunwale, then wearily sounding the fathoms with an oar, the same rite his shipmates would repeat soon enough when it was their turn to lie quiet as Hector, lowering a pitch-pine canoe in the earth’s trough, to sleep under the piled conchs, through every weather on the violet-wreathed mound. Crouching for his friend to hear, Achille whispered about their ancestral river, and those things he would recognize when he got there, his true home, forever and ever and ever, forever, compère. Then Philoctete limped over and rested his hand firmly on a shaking shoulder to anchor his sorrow. Seven Seas and Helen did not come nearer. Achille had carried an oar to the church and propped it outside with the red tin. Now his voice strengthened. He said: “Mate, this is your spear,†and laid the oar slowly, the same way he had placed the parallel oars in the hull of the gommier the day the African swift and its shadow raced. And this was the prayer that Achille could not utter: “The spear that I give you, my friend, is only wood. Vexation is past. I know how well you treat her. You never know my admiration, when you stood crossing the sun at the bow of the long canoe with the plates of your chest like a shield; I would say any enemy so was a compliment. ’Cause no African ever hurled his wide seine at the bay by which he was born with such beauty. You hear me? Men did not know you like me. All right. Sleep good. Good night.†Achille moved Philoctete’s hand, then he saw Helen standing alone and veiled in the widowing light. Then he reached down to the grave and lifted the tin to her. Helen nodded. A wind blew out the sun. You can read more on the Poetry Foundation website. Walcott also wrote a stage version of the Odyssey. Jackie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 How about Led Zeppelin's song Achilles Last Stand? Along the same lines, there's Josh Garrels' Ulysses. (Not exactly great singing, IMO.) DH suggests " " by Cream. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cschnee Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 http://www.corndancer.com/tunes/tunes_db.html This web site has a list of "Suggestions for Pairing Contemporary Music and Canonical Literature" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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