Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc, or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Reading Skill: Historical and Cultural Context

The historical and cultural context, or setting, of a literary work is the time and place in which the work is set or written and the themes and issues important at that time and place. When you read a work with a historical or cultural setting that differs from your own experiences, use background information and prior knowledge to analyze how context influences the work.

• Read the author biography, footnotes, and other text aids.

• Note how characters’ actions and beliefs are affected by the setting.

• Analyze how figurative language—such as similes, metaphors, and personification—reflects a particular time and place.

from the Odyssey, Part I

Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc, or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Figurative Language or Detail

Relationship

Historical/Cultural Setting

“Cyclops…lay down like a mast.”

Homer’s comparison emphasizes Cyclops’ huge size and his stiff movements.

The main characters are sailors, who would be familiar with a mast—a huge, wooden pole on a ship.

Using the Strategy: Setting Influence Chart Relate the figurative language and details of

Homer’s Odyssey to the work’s historical and cultural setting in ancient Greece.

Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc, or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Reading Skill: Historical and Cultural Context

3. Consider the cultural and historical context, or setting of Homer’s Odyssey. What role do ancient Greek religious beliefs play in the epic? Provide examples from the text to support your response.

4. What forms of modern technology could have helped Odysseus?

from the Odyssey, Part I