That was simply like a prayer to Calliope (one of the muses). Calliope is the godess of epic poetry. He does it so that the story may be well-told and effective. He is asking Calliope to be the story.
Note: the speaker (AKA narrator) and the author are not always the same people
Mor info: Honestly, I don't get it much either. But its only a little piece of the intro, I wouldn't worry about it much. Credits go to our English teacher. He may be a weirdo, but I've come to trust that man on his facts! :)
Hope this helped!! :D <3
I don't remember Odysseus summoning any muses, but the narrator does at the beginning for inspiration in telling the story.
According to mythology, the Muses were the nine daughters of Zeus
As a poet, that was his way of honoring the goddess who he thought was helping him compose his epic. In this case it would have been Calliope.
The muse was invoked by a prayer. Invoking the muse was a common literary convention in Greek epic poems. The narrator would invoke the muse to elicit her assistance in the telling of the story. The goddesses were known to possess knowledge so would be able to guide him to tell the story in the best way.
Homer invokes a muse at the beginning of the epic to ask for divine inspiration and guidance in telling the story. The muse was traditionally believed to be a source of artistic inspiration and knowledge, and invoking her was a way to signal the importance and grandeur of the tale being told. It also helped connect the poem to a larger tradition of epic storytelling.
Odysseus .
The Odyssey by Homer
Odysseus meets all the criteria of being an epic hero. He is brave, he has great adventures and he always wins.
In the epic of the cyclops Odysseus stands up for his men.
The muses were goddesses of the arts, including: choral dance and song, history, astronomy, epic poetry, love poetry, lyric poetry, tragedy, sacred poetry, and comedy.
He was the son of Odysseus.
I believe the Muses were Godesses of Inspiration. :)
It is his goal and motivation to return there throughout the epic.