Odysseus weeps, a five-minute work for violin and piano, was written very instinctively in reaction to Book 8 of the Odyssey, where Odysseus is brought to tears by the tales of the blind bard Demodocus, specifically his recounting of the quarrel between Odysseus and Achilles at Troy. Frances-Hoad wanted to depict in music the various emotions that Odysseus experiences in response to bard's recitations, and the subtle ways that the protagonist's weeping alters the relationship between Odysseus and his host, King Alcinous.