Summary: Book 10 (to see summary of Book 11 go to comments) The Achaeans sail from the land of the Cyclopes to the home of Aeolus, ruler of the winds. Aeolus presents Odysseus with a bag containing all of the winds, and he stirs up a westerly wind to guide Odysseus and his crew home. Within ten days, they are in sight of Ithaca, but Odysseus’s shipmates, who think that Aeolus has secretly given Odysseus a fortune in gold and silver, tear the bag open. The winds escape and stir up a storm that brings Odysseus and his men back to Aeolia. This time, however, Aeolus refuses to help them, certain that the gods hate Odysseus and wish to do him harm.
Lacking wind, the Achaeans row to the land of the Laestrygonians, a race of powerful giants whose king, Antiphates, and unnamed queen turn Odysseus’s scouts into dinner. Odysseus and his remaining men flee toward their ships, but the Laestrygonians pelt the ships with boulders and sink them as they sit in the harbor. Only Odysseus’s ship escapes.
From there, Odysseus and his men travel to Aeaea, home of the beautiful witch-goddess Circe. Circe drugs a band of Odysseus’s men and turns them into pigs. When Odysseus goes to rescue them, Hermes approaches him in the form of a young man. He tells Odysseus to eat an herb called moly to protect himself from Circe’s drug and then lunge at her when she tries to strike him with her sword. Odysseus follows Hermes’ instructions, overpowering Circe and forcing her to change his men back to their human forms. Odysseus soon becomes Circe’s lover, and he and his men live with her in luxury for a year. When his men finally persuade him to continue the voyage homeward, Odysseus asks Circe for the way back to Ithaca. She replies he must sail to Hades, the realm of the dead, to speak with the spirit of Tiresias, a blind prophet who will tell him how to get home.
The next morning, Odysseus rouses his men for the imminent departure. He discovers, however, that the youngest man in his crew, Elpenor, had gotten drunk the previous night, slept on the roof, and, when he heard the men shouting and marching in the morning, fell from the roof and broke his neck. Odysseus explains to his men the course that they must take, which they are displeased to learn is rather meandering.
A love of the paranormal or supernatural is also a key element in Romanticism.
In "The Devil and Tom Walker" there are several events which qualify as unexplainable beyond a shadow of a doubt or strange and eery. One of these is the legend of the hidden pirate treasure and the other is the old Indian fort nearby where Tom and his wife live. Both of these factors hold the people's interest and intrigue their imaginations based on the lure of treasure and the strange and unfamiliar Indian ceremonies and burial grounds.
Another is the disappearance of his wife who was never seen or heard from again. The only thing found to explain her whereabouts was her apron hanging from a tree containing a heart and liver.
Of course, the Devil is also a source of intrigue. In this story both Tom and his wife act out of greed to "strike a bargain" with the Devil and toy with the supernatural in doing so. Tom evidently has a change of heart and attempts to go back on his deal. When the Devil calls to collect his soul, Tom is mysteriously swept away toward the Indian burial grounds on a striking black horse and is never heard from again.
