The Odyssey

Linear Time Marked by References to Nature in the Odyssey and Aeneid College

Virgil’s The Aeneid and Homer’s the Odyssey share several structures such as the Epic Exordium and Homeric Epithets, yet the movement and organization of time tie them together by grounding the stories in the real world as much as possible. This use of time allows Virgil and Homer to appeal to their ordinary audiences whilst they read various fantastical elements such as Gods and supernatural powers they do not witness in everyday life. Even in flashbacks, both stories move in linear time, allowing for ordinary audiences to follow the story even though they cannot relate to the magical aspects. Both writers make use of nature to mark time which points to this being an everyday practice for the audiences, thus allowing them to relate to the audience by giving them an aspect they can understand without effort. Using nature to reference time passing is an observance that listeners or readers could identify, thus allowing for accessibility that non-linear narratives could not since they would not make such use of linear movement with nature involved. In addition, this way of passing time parallels to generational passing, which by nature is linear, but in both works has unique organization by pointing out a succession of fame,...

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