The Odyssey
Vocabulary
Romeo & Juliet
Vocabulary
The Joy Luck Club
100

Homer frequently uses the formulaic epithet "the man of twists and turns" to describe this clever protagonist. 

Who is Odysseus?

100

Athena acted as a ____________  for Telemachus’s transformation, sparking his sudden decision to leave Ithaca and search for his missing father.

What is a catalyst?

100

Romeo’s melancholy and unrequited love for this character in Act I acts as a stark contrast to his sudden obsession with Juliet.

Who is Rosaline?

100

Juliet delivers a passionate _______________ on her balcony, unaware that Romeo is listening below.

What is a monologue?

100

In the Prologue, Jing-mei (June) Woo sits in her mother's chair to play this traditional Chinese game that requires four players.

What is Mahjong?

200

Hermes visited these two powerful immortals on their respective islands—one to order the release of Odysseus, and the other to deliver the herb that protected him.

Who are Calypso and Circe?

200

Antinous and the other suitors proved to be _____________, refusing to mend their ways even after numerous divine omens warned them of their impending doom.

What is incorrigible?

200

Despite his outward support for the young lovers, Friar Laurence offers a critique of Romeo's shifting affections with this famous line beginning, "Young men's love then lies..."

What is "not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes"?

200

The Nurse agrees to ___________ the secret marriage by arranging the rope ladder for the wedding night.

What is facilitate?

200

On Popo's deathbed, An-mei stopped being a ghost by doing this to atone for her mother, whose name she was forbidden to speak.

What is cutting her own flesh to put into the soup?

300

King Alcinous and Queen Arete rule over this seafaring nation, whose lavish hospitality (xenia) finally secures Odysseus a safe passage home to Ithaca.

Who are the Phaeacians of the mythical island of Scheria?

300

Odysseus and his crew faced a ___________ journey through the narrow strait, squeezed tightly between the snapping jaws of Scylla and the roaring whirlpool of Charybdis.

What is perilous?

300

This term refers to lines written in unrhymed iambic pentameter, a style Shakespeare used primarily for noble characters.

What is a blank verse?

300

While Romeo's banishment is a solitary departure, this 6-letter word for a mass departure of people describes what would happen if everyone in Verona fled the Capulet-Montague feud at once.

What is an exodus?

300

After showing a natural aptitude for this board game and becoming a local prodigy, young Waverly Jong used an "art of invisible strength" to win.

What is Chess?

400

This second-in-command cousin of Odysseus constantly undermines his authority, instigating both the opening of Aeolus’s bag of winds and the slaughter of Helios’s cattle.

Who is Eurycholus?

400

Penelope sat alone in her chamber in a ____________ mood, quietly weaving her shroud while reflecting deeply on whether her husband would ever return.

What is pensive?

400

A rhyme scheme that uses this specific 14-line poetic form that features an abab, cdcd, efef, gg. An Example of this is in The Prologue to Act I. 

What is a sonnet?

400

Intense grief and anger _______ Romeo to challenge Tybalt to a duel to the death.

What is impel?

400

Ying-ying St. Clair wants her daughter, Lena, to stand up for herself by finding her inner strength, which she calls this fierce, hidden animal spirit.


What is a tiger?

500

To commune with the spirits, Odysseus had to dig a trench and make libations of milk, honey, sweet wine, barley, and this specific fluid.

What is sheep's blood?

500

The _________ suitors shamelessly slaughtered Odysseus's livestock, drank his finest wines, and disrespected his household without showing a shred of guilt.

What is brazen?

500

"Beautiful tyrant! Fiend angelical! / Dove-feathered raven, wolvish-ravening lamb!" Juliet uses these rapid-fire pairings to express her cognitive dissonance after which major plot event?

 What is learning that Romeo has killed her cousin Tybalt?

500

Lord Capulet and Lord Montague erect gold statues to  _______ for the deadly feud that cost their children's lives.

What is atone?

500

At the end of the book, Jing-mei travels to China to meet these two family members left behind by her mother.

Who are her twin half-sisters?