Lesson 4: Lecture on Homer: “The Leaf Bed”

In this lesson, Hannah Hintze, PhD, delivers a lecture entitled “The Leaf Bed” on the first section of The Odyssey. 

Outline of Session

Discussion Questions
  • What insight from this lecture do you find most interesting or helpful and why? Why do you think Odysseus chooses mortality, with its pain, sorrow, and eventual death, over immortality? Is he being honest with the answer he gives Calypso? Give evidence from both the lecture and your own reading of Homer.
  • Why does Odysseus “rejoice” to discover a pile of leaves to lie in? How do the two leaf piles in his life shed light on Odysseus’s feelings?
  • Contrast Odysseus’s acceptance of mortality with that of his father, Laertes. Is there any trait that the two share?
  • What are some ways that Homer sews the episodes of the poem together to make the epic into a whole fabric?
Assignments and Action Steps

Join the Conversation


Pin It on Pinterest

Share This