Question

In Homer's Odyssey, what is an example of imagery from book 12?

Accepted Answer

In book 12 of Homer’s Odyssey, an example of imagery is the extensive description of Odysseus's ship's travels between Kharybdis and Skylla. Through developed personification of both monsters, as well as graphic diction, short similes, and one epic simile, the poet recreates the scene through visual, auditory, and tactile details. This well-developed example of imagery is found in lines 283 to 306 of Robert Fitzgerald’s translation of this epic poem.

Answer

Throughout his epic poem the Odyssey, Homer uses vivid imagery to illustrate the harrowing adventures of Odysseus and his men on their journey. An extensive example of imagery in book 12 is Homer’s description of Odysseus’s ship sailing between Kharybdis and Skylla in lines 283–306 (Fitzgerald translation):

when shevomited, all the sea was like a cauldronseething over intense fire, when the mixturesuddenly heaves and rises.The shot spumesoared to the landside heights, and fell like rain.But when she swallowed the sea water downwe saw the funnel of the maelstrom, heardthe rock bellowing all around, and darksand raged on the bottom far below.My men all blanched against the gloom, our eyeswere fixed upon that yawning mouth in fearof being devoured.Then Skylla made her strike,whisking six of my best men from the ship.I happened to glance aft at ship and oarsmenand caught sight of their arms and legs, danglinghigh overhead. Voices came down to mein anguish, calling my name for the last time.A man surfcasting on a point of rockfor bass or mackerel, whipping his long rodto drop the sinker and the bait far out,will hook a fish and rip it from the surfaceto dangle wriggling through the air:so thesewere borne aloft in spasms toward the cliff.She ate them as they shrieked there, in her den,in the dire grapple, reaching still for me—

Homer first personifies Kharybdis. The monstrous whirlpool initially “vomits” and spews the ocean waters to resemble a witch’s cauldron that is boiling over; then the men (and reader) brace themselves to be deluged or rained down upon with angry froth. Next, Kharybdis sucks water down so far deep that Odysseus and his men even glimpse the sand of the ocean floor. She transforms from a projectile-spewing vessel to a “yawning mouth” that threatens to swallow them. In addition to the graphic visual imagery, Homer employs much auditory (e.g., “seething,” “bellowing,” “raged”) imagery to recreate this scene.
The six-headed monster, Skylla, is then introduced through personification as she strikes and whisks six men from Odysseus’s ship. Visual and auditory imagery emphasize the quickness, cruelty, and tragedy of this action; Odysseus sees the men’s “arms and legs, dangling high overhead” and hears their voices “in anguish, calling my name for the last time.”
In order to emphasize further the mere mortals’ powerlessness and victimization, Homer presents an epic simile (also known as a Homeric simile). This epic simile compares Skylla to a fisherman powerfully and aggressively “whipping” out a weapon (e.g., the “long rod”) that “hooks” the hapless men and “rips” them from their ship. The actual men become a single fish that writhes, wriggles, and helplessly dangles on Skylla’s line. She whips them “aloft in spasms” as high as a cliff before devouring them alive.
The final image of Skylla is her gobbling down the shrieking men as they desperately fight (e.g., “dire grapple”) against their grisly death while still “reaching” or grasping for Odysseus. Homer makes certain the reader not only sees but also hears and feels—both physically and emotionally—the men’s plight.

Answer

There are several examples of imagery in just the first few stanzas, actually. Odysseus describes how his ship leaves "the Ocean River rolling in her wake" and the "open sea with its long swells." He describes the "low sloping shore" of the island of Aeaea, where his men take their rest. All of these constitute visual images, description that is meant to convey visual sensory experience—what one might see, specifically—though imagery can also be auditory (what one might hear), olfactory (what one might smell), tactile (what one might touch), or gustatory (what one might taste). Odysseus also describes Dawn's "rose-red fingers," which is both personification (of Dawn as a woman with fingers) and visual imagery. In addition, he uses imagery to describe the tomb of Elpenor, constructed by the men for their friend who had died on Circe's island during their prior stop there. He says,

Once we'd burned the dead man and the dead man's armor,heaping his grave-mound, hauling a stone that coped it well,we planted his balanced oar aloft to crown his tomb.

Here we have a visual image through which we can easily imagine the dirt heaped up atop Elpenor's ashes, the giant stone placed near it, and the dead man's oar stuck into the dirt atop the mound.

Answer

Book 12 of the Odyssey has several examples of vivid imagery. The first example of this comes at the beginning of the book when Circe describes the perils Odysseus and his sailors will encounter on their journey.
The first peril she describes vividly is the Sirens. She mentions that they lure men to their deaths with the beauty of their songs, and evokes the danger of listening to them by describing them as surrounded by a great heap of bones, many still encased in rotting flesh.
Next, she describes Scylla and Charybdis in some detail. She uses vivid description to emphasize the dangers of both monster and whirlpool. She describes Scylla as yelping like a young dog, but actually being huge and terrifying with twelve feet and six necks, and each neck surmounted by a head bearing 3 sets of teeth. The enumeration of these features emphasizes the terrifying nature of the monster. 
Her description finishes on a more positive note with a mention of the herds of the sun god, but that is accompanied by a warning not to touch the flocks on penalty of the wrath of the god.

Answer

In Book 12 of Homer's Odyssey, the title character and his crew sail away from Circe's island and continue their efforts to return to Ithaca. As is the case throughout Homer's work, the epic poet uses a number of images to help the audience visualize what he is describing. Circe's vivid description of some of the sheer rock formations Odysseus will see provides one example of imagery (12.77-79):

And no mortal man could climb it or step upon its top,not even if he had twenty hands and feet,for the rock is smooth, as though highly polished. (Richmond Lattimore translation)

Circe's image of a human being with 20 hands and feet provides a vivid description of the steepness of these cliffs.
Another example of Homer's vivid language can be found in Circe's description of the Scylla's voice, which she says is "is as loud as a newborn puppy's" (12.86). Thus, Circe's description conjures up in the audience's mind the image of this canine sound.
Finally, as Odysseus and his men approach the island of the Sirens, the wind ceases and the sea becomes calm. Homer, however, provides a lovely image to describe this. He sings that "a divinity lulled the waves to sleep" (12.169). Of course, water cannot literally sleep, but the waters are figuratively asleep.

The Odyssey

Imagery In The Odyssey

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