An Epic, Which Is a Long, Complex Narrative Poem Often Told in Poetic Form

The Iliad Notes Objectives: 4.02.2, 5.03.9, 6.01.2

The Iliad  An epic, which is a long, complex narrative poem often told in poetic form  combines the history, legends, and religion of the ancient Greeks with the imagination, invention, and lively story-telling abilities of a great poet (Homer)  as well known to the ancient Greeks as the story of Noah’s ark or Michael Jackson’s song lyrics  multiple gods, each having his own specialty and all loosely controlled by a leader, Zeus  the gods are physically more powerful than men, but have their own weaknesses and desires which sometimes put mortals at risk  Greeks believed that some inanimate objects were also gods and that the gods could choose to change from the object to the form of a human and back at will

An epic  The events in an epic are usually proclaimed to be true of divinely inspired  Often derived from myths, legends, and religions of the area it came from  Most important element is the hero o The hero of an epic is… . a human being with characteristics a society admires and often wishes to emulate . male, attractive, and unusually strong and able . a trained soldier or warrior . believes in and follows a code of honor for which he is willing to sacrifice his life . fights for the noble cause . considered better than the common man, however he has the same longings and desires . hopes that the divine will favor him and his cause . becomes tragic when some error or fault, often inborn or of his own making, brings about his own death and usually the destruction of others . often has the insight and realizes what his fate will be before anyone else knows, but continues to forge ahead . mortal and vulnerable

Literary Terms: theme – central idea, concern, or message; long works often contain more than one major theme; Homer reveals the themes of the Iliad through:  characters’ statements and actions  events in the plot  images and their associations Examples: o The Iliad states its theme in the beginning as “the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles” o also contains profound insights about war and peace, honor, duty, compassion, and life and death foreshadowing – the use of clues to suggest future events in a literary work; creates suspense by building the audience’s anticipation