How do writers of epics typically start their poems?

Writers of epics typically start their poems with an invocation to the Muse.

Explanation:

In Greek mythology, there were nine Muses. The Muses were the goddesses of the arts, including poetry. The Muses themselves were skilled in their art and, through it, were able to have mankind forget their troubles. Writers of epic poems, such as Homer, the author of The Iliad and The Odyssey, would begin their work by invoking the Muse of poetry. They would ask the Muse to inspire them, to give them the necessary knowledge to complete their work. The invocation below was taken from The Odyssey:

“Tell me, Muse, of the man of many ways, who was driven

far journeys, after he had sacked Troy’s sacred citadel.

many were they whose cities he saw, whose minds he learned of,

many the pains he suffered in his spirit on the wide sea,

struggling for his own life and the homecoming of his companions.

Even so he could not save his companions, hard though

he strove to; they were destroyed by their own wild recklessness,

fools, who devoured the oxen of Helios, the Sun God,

and he took away the day of their homecoming.  From some point

here, goddess, daughter of Zeus, speak, and begin our story.”

1. read the following excerpt from franklin d. roosevelt's "fireside chat 19":

on the other side of the picture, we must learn also to know that guerilla warfare against the germans in, let us say serbia or norway, us; that a successful russian offensive against the germans us; and that british successes on land or sea in any part of the world strengthen our hands.

remember always that germany and italy, regardless of any formal declaration of war, consider themselves at war with the united states at this moment just as much as they consider themselves at war with britain or russia. and germany puts all the other republics of the americas into the same category of enemies. the people of our sister republics of this hemisphere can be honored by that fact.  

the true goal we seek is far above and beyond the ugly field of battle. when we resort to force, as now we must, we are determined that this force shall be directed toward ultimate good as well as against immediate evil. we americans are not destroyers — we are builders.

analyze the effectiveness of this excerpt. how does it function within the speech as a whole? how does the structure of the excerpt to convey the speech's purpose and key points? support your argument with evidence from the speech. (10 points)