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Iliad SparkNotes Literature Guide: Volume 35 (SparkNotes Literature Guide Series)

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It would be absurd, therefore, to test Pope's translation by our own advancing knowledge of the original text. We must be content to look at it as a most delightful work in itself,--a work which is as much a part of English literature as Homer himself is of Greek. We must not be torn from our kindly associations with the old Iliad, that once was our most cherished companion, or our most looked-for prize, merely because Buttmann, Loewe, and Liddell have made us so much more accurate as to amphikupellon being an adjective, and not a substantive. Far be it from us to defend the faults of Pope, especially when we think of Chapman's fine, bold, rough old English;--far be it from, us to hold up his translation as what a translation of Homer _might_ be. But we can still dismiss Pope's Iliad to the hands of our readers, with the consciousness that they must have read a very great number of books before they have read its fellow. The critic eye--that microscope of wit Sees hairs and pores, examines bit by bit, How parts relate to parts, or they to whole The body's harmony, the beaming soul, Are things which Kuster, Burmann, Wasse, shall see, When man's whole frame is obvious to a flea.'"(19) Because the poem begins in the middle of things like this, the inciting incident of The Iliad is different from the inciting incident of the Trojan War itself. Curiously, though, the two inciting incidents mirror each other. The event that set the Trojan War in motion occurred when Paris, the prince of Troy, stole away from Sparta with the young woman Helen. Similarly, the event that sets The Iliad in motion occurs when Agamemnon steals from Achilles a young woman named Briseis, who had come to Achilles among other spoils from victory in battle. In this way, the beginning of The Iliad symbolically repeats the beginning of the Trojan War. Yet in spite of their symbolic similarity, these two abductions have opposing effects. Whereas Paris’s abduction of Helen pushes the Achaean and Trojan armies into battle, Agamemnon’s abduction of Briseis so enrages Achilles that the warrior removes himself from battle entirely. Here on the monarch's speech Achilles broke, And furious, thus, and interrupting spoke: "Tyrant, I well deserved thy galling chain, To live thy slave, and still to serve in vain, Should I submit to each unjust decree:-- Command thy vassals, but command not me. Seize on Briseis, whom the Grecians doom'd My prize of war, yet tamely see resumed; And seize secure; no more Achilles draws His conquering sword What shame, what woe is this to Greece! what joy To Troy's proud monarch, and the friends of Troy! That adverse gods commit to stern debate The best, the bravest, of the Grecian state. Young as ye are, this youthful heat restrain, Nor think your Nestor's years and wisdom vain. A godlike race of heroes once I knew, Such as no more these aged eyes shall view! Lives there a chief to match Pirithous' fame, Dryas the bold, or Ceneus' deathless name; Theseus, endued with more than mortal might, Or Polyphemus, like the gods in fight? With these of old, to toils of battle bred, In early youth my hardy days I led; Fired with the thirst which virtuous envy breeds, And smit with love of honourable deeds, Strongest of men, they pierced the mountain boar, Ranged the wild deserts red with monsters' gore, And from their hills the shaggy Centaurs tore: Yet these with soft persuasive arts I sway'd; When Nestor spoke, they listen'd and obey'd. If in my youth, even these esteem'd me wise; Do you, young warriors, hear my age advise. Atrides, seize not on the beauteous slave; That prize the Greeks by common suffrage gave: Nor thou, Achilles, treat our prince with pride; Let kings be just, and sovereign power preside. Thee, the first honours of the war adorn, Like gods in strength, and of a goddess born; Him, awful majesty exalts above The powers of earth, and sceptred sons of Jove. Let both unite with well-consenting mind, So shall authority with strength be join'd. Leave me, O king! to calm Achilles' rage; Rule thou thyself, as more advanced in age. Forbid it, gods! Achilles should be lost, The pride of Greece, and bulwark of our host."

The Iliad Study Guide | Literature Guide | LitCharts

Sensible as I am of the difficulty of disproving a negative, and aware as I must be of the weighty grounds there are for opposing my belief, it still seems to me that the Homeric question is one that is reserved for a higher criticism than it has often obtained. We are not by nature intended to know all things; still less, to compass the powers by which the greatest blessings of life have been placed at our disposal. Were faith no virtue, then we might indeed wonder why God willed our ignorance on any matter. But we are too well taught the contrary lesson; and it seems as though our faith should be especially tried touching the men and the events which have wrought most influence upon the condition of humanity. And there is a kind of sacredness attached to the memory of the great and the good, which seems to bid us repulse the scepticism which would allegorize their existence into a pleasing apologue, and measure the giants of intellect by an homeopathic dynameter. The Epic Cycle: Along with the Iliad and the Odyssey, there were several other ancient Greek poems that concentrated on the events of the Trojan War, filling out the events not mentioned in the Homeric epics. Titles included the Cypria, the Aethiopis, and the Little Iliad. It is often suggested that these works were written after the two Homeric epics, and most of them are much shorter than Homer’s masterpieces. Altogether they formed a narrative of the war, known as the Epic Cycle. However, all of the texts of the Epic Cycle have been lost, with just fragments remaining. As the hymns, and some other poems usually ascribed to Homer, are not included in Pope's translation, I will content myself with a brief account of the Battle of the Frogs and Mice, from the pen of a writer who has done it full justice(37):--A blending of popular legends, and a free use of the songs of other bards, are features perfectly consistent with poetical originality. In fact, the most original writer is still drawing upon outward impressions--nay, even his own thoughts are a kind of secondary agents which support and feed the impulses of imagination. But unless there be some grand pervading principle--some invisible, yet most distinctly stamped archetypus of the great whole, a poem like the Iliad can never come to the birth. Traditions the most picturesque, episodes the most pathetic, local associations teeming with the thoughts of gods and great men, may crowd in one mighty vision, or reveal themselves in more substantial forms to the mind of the poet; but, except the power to create a grand whole, to which these shall be but as details and embellishments, be present, we shall have nought but a scrap-book, a parterre filled with flowers and weeds strangling each other in their wild redundancy: we shall have a cento of rags and tatters, which will require little acuteness to detect.

The Iliad: Symbols | SparkNotes The Iliad: Symbols | SparkNotes

Meanwhile, a surrogate conflict is being waged between the gods on behalf of the Trojans and Achaeans. Athena, Hera, and Poseidon support the Achaean forces, while Apollo, Aphrodite, and Ares support the Trojans. As the battle rages on, the gods give strength and inspiration to their respective champions. Eventually Zeus, planning to shape the conflict by himself so that he may fulfill his promise to Thetis, bans intervention in the war by the other gods. Zeus helps engineer the Trojan advance against the Achaeans. Just as the poet uses an elevated style, so do the various characters who speak in the poem. The human heroes frequently deliver speeches either to boast of their accomplishments or urge their fellows on in battle. But no matter the subject of their speech they use an elevated style in keeping with the seriousness of the situation and their own dignity. The same is true for the gods, who generally speak and act as the humans do. Declare, O Muse! in what ill-fated hour(43) Sprung the fierce strife, from what offended power Latona's son a dire contagion spread,(44) And heap'd the camp with mountains of the dead; The king of men his reverent priest defied,(45) And for the king's offence the people died. Read about an opposing use of war as a theme in Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front. Military Glory over Family LifeTwo French writers--Hedelin and Perrault--avowed a similar scepticism on the subject; but it is in the "Scienza Nuova" of Battista Vico, that we first meet with the germ of the theory, subsequently defended by Wolf with so much learning and acuteness. Indeed, it is with the Wolfian theory that we have chiefly to deal, and with the following bold hypothesis, which we will detail in the words of Grote(24)-- Before, however, entering into particulars respecting the question of this unity of the Homeric poems, (at least of the Iliad,) I must express my sympathy with the sentiments expressed in the following remarks:--

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