Week 3 Reading: Homer's Iliad; Part B

Reading notes adapted from Homer's Iliad, by Alfred J. Church

The Rousing of Achilles

• Usage of many descriptive adjectives and verbs. This can be very useful in immersing the reader into the story
• Instances of grammatically incorrect sentence structures, however very effective when read aloud!
• Also, in terms of sentence structures, many of them are non-direct or passive, which is contrastive from what is required in essays, etc.
• The verbiage used was very much like the olden times, and also very exaggerated
• "O Hector, do you not dare ..."
• Spoke as though you are watching a play about the past
• The story portrayed the main hero, Achilles, as a character that is known widely in the world of the story and his infamy leads to fear among people who have never even seen him
• This usage of background fame can be used for characters that do not need a detailed backstory before the story starts. The character's already known throughout the lore itself

The Slaying of Hector

• Every time there is a line of dialogue, it serves more like a monologue in terms of its dramatic effects and length of the dialogue itself
• There is a prevalence of divine intervention, which in this case is Apollo
• He gave Achilles the greaves that prevented him from being killed Agenor, as Agenor assumed that Achilles was mortal and could be killed by mortal weapon, a spear
• Again there are profound and descriptive adjectives, in this case describing the shine of the character's armor, which states "shine as bright as Orion.
• Orion is a constellation in the night sky. In this case, the author is saying that the armor shined like the stars.

(Statue of Apollo. Source: Wikimedia)