Homer: Poet of the IliadHomer: Poet of the "Iliad" is the perfect companion both for readers deepening their appreciation of the poem and its form and for those encountering Homer's work for the first time. Mark Edwards combines the advantages of a general introduction and a detailed commentary to make the insights of recent Homeric scholarship accessible to students and general readers as well as to classicists. Since interpretation of the epic requires an understanding of the ancient oral tradition and its conventions, Edwards offers a comprehensive analysis of the poetics of the Iliad and the Odyssey. He also discusses essential elements of Homeric society -- its religion, history, and social values -- to clarify the style and substance of the poetry. In the second half of the book, Edwards's scene-by-scene explication of ten major books of the Iliad leads the reader to a greater perception of Homer's mastery and manipulation of convention. |
Contents
The Scale and Structure of the Poems 7 | xiv |
The Bard Oral Poetry and Our Present Text | 15 |
The Techniques of Oral Poetry | 21 |
Copyright | |
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Achilles action Aeneas Agamem Agamemnon Ajax Alcinous Andromache Antilochus Aphrodite Apollo arming scene armor Atê Athena audience bard beginning Book 16 Book 24 Book 9 Characteristics of Homeric characters Commentaries dead death Demodocus described detail Diomedes direct speech divine duel effect emotional epic example fate Fenik fight final formulaic Further Reading gifts gives Glaucus goddess gods Greeks grief Hector Helen helmet Hephaestus Hera hero hero's Hesiod Homeric Poetry Homeridae honor horses human idea Iliad Book important introduced killed Kirk later Menelaus mighty mortals motif Muses narrative Nestor occur Odysseus's Odyssey Oral Poetry paradigms Paris Patroclus Patroclus's Peleus Penelope perhaps Phaeacians Phemius phrase plot poem poet poet's Poseidon present Priam says shield ships simile singer singing soliloquy song spear story suitors supplication tale techniques Telemachus tell Thetis thought tion traditional Trojans Troy type-scenes usual verse voice wife words wounded Zeus Zeus's