Term Paper on "Homer and Virgil"

Term Paper 3 pages (1103 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Iliad Aeneid

Homer and Virgil: Poetic deflations of war, poetic inflations of national origin

Both the "Aeneid" of the Roman Poet Virgil, as translated by Allen Mandelbaum, and the "Iliad" of Homer, as translated by Robert Fagles chronicle tales of nations. However, the "Aeneid," although it is also comprises many tales of war and warriors, as well as travel and lovers, is fundamentally a positive tale of nation building, namely the founding of the city of Rome. The more mournful and elegiac "Iliad" is a tale of nation's imminent destruction, that of Troy, and thus has a far less positive tone towards the theme of war and warfare.

Neither text is anti-war. The theme of a male's need to prove himself in warfare runs through both texts, as Paris is criticized by Homer's Greeks for his chariness about fighting for Helen's hand, and Aeneas is reproached for dallying too long with the Queen of Carthage, the lovely Dido. However, the "Aeneid" focuses mainly on an individual's positive quest to establish the Roman capital, as opposed to the more disparately focused "Iliad" which chronicles the petty squabbling of the Greeks and Trojans, and the futility, ultimately of their aims to end a conflict that neither side really has much desire to win, given it is over a woman no warrior may enjoy -- even her rightful husband has lost his drive for Helen. But the more spare, fierce, and elemental poetic diction of the Greek author stresses the futility of war in contrast to the poetic, elevated language and themes of the "Aeneid." The "Aeneid" also combines themes of travel and romance as well as relationships between men and battle, bringing them to the forefront while in the "Iliad," such wrangling over women are only of interest in terms of how they affect the war and create conflict between men.

Even the repetitive references to the characteristics of the different warriors in Homer's text stresses the repetitive and cyclical nature of violent conflict, as opposed to the more elegant and varied style of Virgil. The Roman author's greater variety and cleaner sentence structure creates a more propulsive narrative, and a more complex sense of character. The complexity of psychology, however, is not simply due to Virgil's verbal skill but also the Aeneid's singular focus on the central, founding character of Aeneias, while Homer must focus on two different sides of the Trojan War.

For instance, in one instance of Homer's description of a battle scene, the Greek author descends into almost cave-man like images, as Ajax, one of the greatest warriors is described as thus:

He brought him down with a glinting jagged rock, massive, top of the heap behind the rampart's edge, no easy lift for a fighter even in prime strength, working with both hands, weak as men are now.

Giant Ajax hoisted it high and hurled it down, crushed the rim of the fighter's four-horned helmet and cracked his skull to splinters, bloody pulp..."

Iliad, Fagles, 12.435-443

In this description, Homer's skill as a critic of war through his style and choice of images becomes clear. There is nothing beautiful or glorious about a man being killed by a rock by a stronger man. This is not a fair fight, and the description of how the helmet of the… READ MORE

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