In a line of poetry, an iamb is a foot or beat consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, or a short syllable followed by a long syllable. For example, deLIGHT, the SUN, forLORN, one DAY, reLEASE.
Into the middle of a narrative without introduction
In the excerpt from "The Odyssey", by Homer, the characteristics of Odysseus, the story's epic hero, that are most shown in this excerpt are <em>character and loyalty</em>. In Homer times epic heroes were half way between human beings and gods. Odysseus has to face all sorts of troubles on his trip. In this excerpt, he shows he has character and is loyal to his wife and his ancestors.
