HUM 1020 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Epic Poetry, Homeric Question, Trojan War
Document Summary
Features of poetry: performative speech (not writing) Homer: author of the iliad and the odyssey, first and greatest of the epic poets. Iliad and the odyssey: epic poems on the trojan war and its aftermath. Arguably the oldest works of western literature in existence today. The idea of homer begins to shape and create ancient greek. Fame = popularity; create things that people want to see. Homeric question: was homer real or just a myth? . Since homer was the manifestation of an oral tradition of poetry it is hard to find any concrete evidence of his existence. Case for multiple homers: common theory is that homer was not one man, but rather, a compilation of bards that sung the tales of the trojan war. Case for one homer: the poems attributed to homer have the same metered rhyme. Would be to difficult for multiple bards to imitate/create the style.
