Odds Bodkin

Albert Preziosi

Understanding Literature

Dr. Ellis

9/19/12

Odds Bodkin

            Not knowing what to expect I ventured over to McManus Theater to see Odds Bodkin. All the information I knew was that he was going to tell the story of the Iliad one of Homers famous poems. I figured it was going to be a reading and I was going to be bored. That was not the case at all. When I saw him sitting up there with a guitar my first idea was broken. Dumbfounded the show started and he started telling the story using his guitar and vivid sound effects, which incredibly he made with his mouth. Being pretty fluent in the story of the Iliad from reading the book and seeing the movie Troy with Brad Pitt I wasn’t sure how Odds could measure up.

            Odds was amazing. His use of the guitar and his sound effects were incredible. He sounded exactly like movie sound effects and the way he incorporated them into the story you might as well have been watching the scenes. He used his voice and the guitar to perfectly recreate every scene if you closed your eyes you would think that the action is right in front of you coming from all around you. He made you feel like you were watching the Greeks storm the Trojan beach or the creaking of the wooden horse. He emphasized the sound of each event to show you how unnecessary the actual vision of each of the scenes are. He made you focus on his words and sounds and the meaning of them.

            In relation to the poem “Fox Trot Fridays” by Rita Dove both focus on sound. The poem has a rhythm to it since it’s talking about dancing. There’s a beat to it like the beat of the type of music you’d Fox Trot to. This rhythm helps to enhance the poem and get you to see what the author is talking about. The rhythm emphasizes her words and her meaning. Similar to Odds sound plays an important role in portraying a story or a deeper meaning.