Homerathon allows students to participate in the Odyssey

Students have the opportunity to recite one of the greatest poems in history at Homerathon, senior in history Erin Lynch said.

The goal of the reading of Homer’s the Odyssey is to celebrate not only the text but where it comes from and what it does, she said.

“It allows us to celebrate the work of Homer along with reinforcing what it would have been like living in an oral culture like this,” Lynch said.

Reciting the poem is something that would have been done years ago, so it’s great to see something like this actually starting up again, she said.

Students were able to sign up to read 59 available parts.

Spanish studies sophomore Daniel Aidan Wright participated for the first time this year.

“I heard about it last year and really wanted to do it. So whenever I saw they were having it again this year, then I signed up for multiple parts,” Wright said.

Students who participated thought it was cool and thought it was important to see the way Western literature was, Wright said.

“This is definitely something that I would do again, because it’s so interesting,” Wright said.

Audience members also enjoyed the reading, and English graduate student Rod Sachs said he thought it was interesting.

“I think it is a fantastic thing to do and a great way to get classic narrative into the open air,” Sachs said. “I would actually try reading next year."

It was a great experience seeing students and professors working together on a casual level reciting such a great work, Sachs said.

@ItsColon

colton.bell@mavs.uta.edu