‘‘Achilleus the lion-hearted who breaks men in battle’’(192). As the strongest and most important character in the poem, Achilles’ return to the Trojan war towards the last books of Homer’s Iliad symbolizes the reappearance of his heroic greatness. Book 21 ends with Apollo distracting Achilles from killing more Trojans, while book 22 begins with Achilles chasing the God of light for preventing him from acquiring more honor on the battlefield. The hero then runs towards the walls of Troy, while...
4 Pages
1659 Words
Few myths from the Greek canon have enjoyed as long a life as Homer’s Odyssey. Though written centuries before the contemporary era, retellings of the work continue to exist. Other poets, such as Keats and Pound, make reference to the poem in their own work, and James Joyce, in his Ulysses, uses its thematic and structural elements in his own modernist novel. A uniquely intriguing example, however, lies with the Coen Brothers film O Brother, Where Art Thou? Released in...
2 Pages
1008 Words
The story of the Odyssey written by Homer, highlights the heroic qualities of Odysseus. In the 21st century we can gather information to create an understanding about the ancient world and in precent society. An example of this is his growth of knowledge from his observation on the voyage, during Odysseus’ encounters on the voyage, this can be significant to a real life scenario, to observe and develop and understanding rather than thinking you know the answer. Even though the...
2 Pages
827 Words
Early in the Iliad, Homer’s epic poem about the legendary Trojan War, there occurs a famous digression known as the catalogue of ships, which names all the Greek leaders and contingents who came to fight at Troy. These verses reflect a central claim of epic poetry – that through the inspiration of the Muses, daughters of Memory, it can preserve the knowledge of people and the events of the past – a formidable power in the non-literate, oral cultures in...
3 Pages
1179 Words
Homer was an ancient Greek author and epic poet. He is the reputed author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, the two epic poems that are the foundational works of ancient Greek literature. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential authors of all time: for example, in Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, Virgil refers to him as ‘Poet sovereign’, king of all poets; in the preface to his translation of the Iliad, Alexander Pope acknowledges that Homer...
2 Pages
729 Words
Although the Aeneid shares many characteristics with the Homeric epic, as an epic it is different in important ways. For this reason, the Aeneid is referred to as a literary or secondary epic in order to differentiate it from primitive or primary epics such as the Homeric poems. This, should not be interpreted as value judgments, but merely as indications that the original character of the epic was improvisational and oral. Aeneid, composed later in the epic tradition, was basically...
2 Pages
1048 Words
Check the Price of Your Paper
