Homer as a story-teller and the idea of epic

A heroic story created for listeners

The Odyssey, traditionally attributed to Homer, is a long poem about Odysseus’ struggle to return home after the Trojan War. Its central concern is not simply reaching Ithaca: Odysseus must also recover his place within his household. Adventure, suffering and encounters with divine powers are therefore connected to marriage, family and belonging.

We usually encounter the poem in a book, but it grew out of a culture in which stories were heard in performance. Understanding that oral background helps explain both how such a long poem could be created and why it takes the form it does.

Homer and the inherited tradition

The Odyssey is generally dated to the eighth or seventh century BC. Its stories belong to a legendary heroic past, with possible echoes of the much earlier Bronze Age. The time in which the poem took shape should therefore be distinguished from the time in which its events are imagined to happen.

Very little about Homer’s life is secure. Ancient biographies were written after he had already become famous and do not provide reliable evidence for his personal history. It is safest to treat Homer as the traditional name associated with the poem, rather than imagine that we know precisely who he was or how he worked.

Travelling poet-singers, or bards, drew on stories, characters and themes already familiar to their communities. A poet did not have to invent the Trojan War or Odysseus from nothing. His achievement lay in shaping inherited material into an engaging story: choosing what to include, what to expand and how to connect its episodes.

How a poet could compose while performing

In oral composition, a singer could create the wording of a poem during its performance. This is different from learning a complete written poem word for word and then reciting it.

The performer knew the essential story and had learnt a large store of useful phrases and familiar scene patterns. These provided a framework within which he could tell the tale. Years of practice allowed him to select and combine this material while maintaining the rhythm of the verse.

The original Greek Odyssey uses dactylic hexameter, a metre with six metrical feet in each line. Traditional phrases, called formulae, fitted this rhythm. A repeated expression such as ‘resourceful Odysseus’ illustrates the kind of ready-made language available to a performer, although the metre itself belongs to the Greek, not necessarily to its English translation.

Repetition also helped listeners. Unlike a reader, an audience could not turn back a page to check something it had missed. Familiar wording and recurring patterns kept important people and situations recognisable. Such repetition was a practical resource for sophisticated storytelling, not evidence that the poet lacked imagination.

Performance and the move to writing

Early epic singers could accompany themselves on a lyre or harp and perform before a gathered audience, including at banquets. The poem was an event shared by performer and listeners, rather than a text experienced only through silent reading. Changes of tone could distinguish speakers and communicate anger, grief or reassurance.

Book 19 offers a useful illustration of this dramatic potential. Penelope grieves for her absent husband while speaking to Odysseus himself, whose identity she does not know. A performer could contrast her sorrow with his controlled replies, making their conversation emotionally powerful for an audience that knows who the stranger really is.

The precise route from oral performances to the written Odyssey remains uncertain. A poet may have used writing to help shape the work, or a performance may have been recorded through dictation to a scribe. Scholars also debate whether written versions of shorter performances were brought together. Oral performance and writing could coexist; they need not represent two completely separate stages.

Later rhapsodes recited Homeric poetry. The poem survives in a form divided into 24 books, but that does not mean Homer originally performed those divisions or delivered the entire work in one uninterrupted sitting. Nor should the theory of oral composition be treated as proof of one exact sequence of events.

What makes the Odyssey an epic?

An epic is a long narrative poem concerned with heroic deeds in a legendary world. The Odyssey combines several defining characteristics of ancient Greek epic.

Its poetic form and scale are fundamental. It is composed in dactylic hexameter and extends across 24 books. Yet length alone is not enough: the many episodes are connected by Odysseus’ desire to return home and regain his position there.

Its heroic subject matter connects it to the wider mythology of the Trojan War. Odysseus is an exceptional figure, but his heroism involves more than physical strength. Courage, endurance, intelligence and self-control all matter. In Book 19, he feels pity for Penelope but suppresses his tears to preserve his disguise. The hero must endure emotional difficulty as well as danger.

The gods are active participants in this world, not merely figures mentioned in passing. In Book 19, Athena distracts Penelope when Eurycleia recognises Odysseus, helping his identity remain concealed. Divine intervention affects what humans notice and what happens next. Epic poetry also associates storytelling itself with divine inspiration: the Odyssey begins with an appeal to a Muse.

Its traditional poetic language includes recurring formulae, epithets and extended comparisons. These connect the poem to oral performance and give its storytelling a recognisable style. Their detailed effects can be explored separately; here, the important connection is between the poem’s language and the tradition from which it developed.

An epic about the home as well as heroic adventure

The Odyssey does not cease to be an epic when it describes ordinary household activities. Its distinctive character comes partly from bringing the marvellous and heroic into contact with domestic life.

Book 19 makes this especially clear. The washing of a guest’s feet leads Eurycleia to discover Odysseus’ scar and recognise him. That ordinary act becomes crucial to the returning hero’s plans. Penelope’s weaving, grief and concern for the household likewise belong to the larger struggle over whether Odysseus’ home can be restored.

The strongest explanation of the poem’s genre therefore considers its features together. It is a long, rhythmically composed heroic narrative, rooted in inherited mythology and oral storytelling, in which divine action and human struggles form a connected story of homecoming.

Composition and performance

• Traditionally attributed to Homer; generally dated to the eighth or seventh century BC. His life is uncertain.
• Oral poets inherited heroic stories and composed performances using learnt formulae, metre and scene patterns.
• Repetition supported both the performer and the listening audience.
• Bards could sing with lyre or harp accompaniment; later rhapsodes recited epic.
• Writing or dictation may have helped preserve and shape the poem. The exact process is disputed.

Why the Odyssey is an epic

• Form: Greek poetry in dactylic hexameter; 24 books in its surviving organisation.
• Unity: episodes connected by Odysseus’ homecoming and recovery of his household.
• Heroic mythology: an exceptional Trojan War hero displaying courage, endurance and intelligence.
• Divine involvement: Athena protects his concealment in Book 19; the poem invokes a Muse.
• Traditional style: formulae, epithets and extended similes.

Its distinctive emphasis

Heroic adventure and domestic life work together: Eurycleia’s washing of Odysseus’ feet leads to recognition through his scar.