The Illiad

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Recommended: critical analysis of the novel the illiad

THE ILLIAD

The name “Homer” is synonymous with great tales of heroic poetry.

Although this genre of poetry hails the distinctness of being “Homeric” it is

not certain that Homer himself actually existed. The book Prolegomena ad

Hoerum, published in 1795 CE. written by F.A. Wolf, translated “The

Homeric Problem”, set in motion numerous debates among scholars

concerning Homers existence, and the fact that Homer may have been a

group of writers, and not just one man.

If we accept that Homer existed, we believe that Homer, was a blind Greek

bard, that traveled throughout Ionia reciting his poetry in exchange for room

and board.

In this paper I will examine and analyze the use of words that create graphic

pictures for the mind, and words that excite the imagination.

I will illustrate how the use of such a graphic idiom is still popular today.

Although we have entered a new millennium filled with special effects, and

computer graphics , many of us continue to appreciate the excitement of the

written word from those authors that produce masterpieces. The Iliad does

just that. Homer’s use of language evokes the passion of his characters and

their heartfelt emotions. The Iliad embodies action at it’s very onset, and

although long in content, captures and to an extent , possesses it’s reader.

I am sure that it is the style and meter, that Homer uses to convey his

thoughts, that make the Iliad such a classic epic.

In the opening lines of the Iliad, words of war capture the reader.

Rage-Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles,

murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,

hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls,

great fighters’ souls, but made their bodies carrion,

feasts for the dogs and birds, (Homer 122 1-5)

It is descriptions, such as these that lure the reader in. Immediately one can

see that Achilles, (knowing him or not) is some sort of madman, responsible

for taking many lives. Homer wasted no time in the development of the

character Archilles. In these lines you are introduced to Achilles, and fear

this person consumed with rage. You are also captivated by the fact that

dead bodies become feasts for dogs and birds.

Something inside our psyche yearns to hear more of the gore that we claim to

detest. It appears evident that Homer was conscious of the dark side that all

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