Odyssey Multiple Choice Test Spring 2022

Read the passages and answer the questions that follow.

Excerpt 1

“He caught two in his hands like squirming puppies

to beat their brains out, spattering the floor. 280

Then he dismembered them and made his meal,

gaping and crunching like a mountain lion—

everything: innards, flesh, and marrow bones.

We cried aloud, lifting our hands to Zeus,

powerless, looking on at this, appalled;

but Cyclops went on filling up his belly

with manflesh and great gulps of whey,

then lay down like a mast among his sheep.

My heart beat high now at the chance of action,

and drawing the sharp sword from my hip I went 290

along his flank to stab him where the midriff

holds the liver. I had touched the spot

when sudden fear stayed me: if I killed him

we perished there as well, for we could never

move his ponderous doorway slab aside.”

Read the passages and answer the questions that follow.

Excerpt 2

He bent to drink the somber blood and then he spoke:

“Great Captain, a fair wind and the honey lights of home

are all you seek. But anguish lies ahead;

the god who thunders on the land prepares it,

not to be shaken from your track, implacable,

in rancor for the son whose eye you blinded.

One narrow strait may take you through his blows:

denial of yourself, restraint of your shipmates.

When you make landfall on Thrinakia first

and quit the violet sea, dark on the land

you’ll find the grazing herd of Helios

by whom all things are seen, all speech is known.”

Read the passages and answer the questions that follow.

Excerpt 3

“Mighty goddess, do not be angry with me over this. I myself know very well Penelope, although intelligent, is not your match                                      270 to look at, not in stature or in beauty. But she's a human being and you're a god. You'll never die or age.  But still I wish, each and every day to get back home,                                       220 to see the day when I return.  And so, even if out there on the wine-dark sea some god breaks me apart, I will go on— the heart here in my chest is quite prepared to bear affliction.  I've already had so many troubles, and I've worked so hard                               280 through waves and warfare.  Let what's yet to come be added in with those."

Read the passages and answer the questions that follow.

Excerpt 4

Penelope untied the strap

around the carving handle, pushed her hook

into the slit, aimed the bolt inside,

and shot them back. Then came the rasping sound

as those bright doors the key had sprung gave way— 1090

a bellow like a bull’s vaunt in a meadow—

followed by her light footfall entering

over the plank floor. Herb-scented robes

lay there in the chests, but the lady’s milk-white arms

went up to lift the bow down from a peg 1095

in its polished bow case.

Now Penelope

sank down, holding the weapon on her knees,

and drew her husband’s great bow out, and sobbed

and bit her lip and let the salt tears flow.

Read the poem and answer the questions that follow.

Ithaka

by Constantine Cavafy

"As you set out for Ithaka

hope your road is a long one,

full of adventure, full of discovery.

Laistrygonians, Cyclops, angry Poseidon -

don't be afraid of them: 5

you'll never find things like that on your way

as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,

as long as a rare sensation

touches your spirit and your body.

Laistrygonians, Cyclops, wild Poseidon - 10

you won't encounter them

unless you bring them along inside your soul,

unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one.

May there be many summer mornings when, 15

with what pleasure, what joy,

you enter harbours you're seeing for the first time;

may you stop at Phoenician trading stations

to buy fine things,

mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony, 20

sensual perfumes of every kind -

as many sensual perfumes as you can;

and may you visit many Egyptian cities

to learn and go on learning from those who know.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind. 25

Arriving there is what you're destined for.

But don't hurry the journey at all.

Better if it lasts for years,

so you're old by the time you reach the island,

wealthy with all you've gained on the way, 30

not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.

Without her you wouldn't have set out.

She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you. 35

Wise as you have become, so full of experience,

you'll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean."