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WORLD LITERATURE I (ENG 251)
Homer Study
Guide
Dr. Diane Thompson,
NVCC, ELI
The Table of Contents will guide you to useful
background information about Homer, Troy, the Troy Cycle, Epic poetry, and
the Iliad as well as the Odyssey. I encourage you to read through all of this material
before you begin to read
the Odyssey. The information on the Troy Cycle will give you a context for the Odyssey--it
was only one of several epics about the Trojan War.
I suggest reading through the lists of
characters in advance to get your bearings before plunging into
the text. You can return to these lists as you read Homer. Because the story
of the Iliad (a battle at Troy) precedes that of the Odyssey
(a Greek veteran of the Trojan War wandering home), it really helps to get
some familiarity with the Iliad before reading the Odyssey.
In the first yellow box below, I have
links to several different summaries of the Iliad. In order to appreciate the long tradition of Troy
stories to follow, it is very important to have a firm grasp of who is
doing what to whom and why in the Iliad.
I have included a list of summaries
of the Odyssey in the second yellow box below.
I suggest selecting and reading a summary first and then reading
Homer.
Summaries of the Iliad:
| ClassicNote
on the Iliad |
a long, detailed summary of each
book, with analysis; a few annoying ads, but pretty good overall |
| Homer,
The Iliad: Plot Summary |
short and authoritative; from Albin
Lesky, A History of Greek Literature, trans. de Heer &
Willis, London: Methuen & Co., 1966 |
| Summary
of Homer's Iliad |
brief, but with many
hypertext links for further information; by Bob
Canary |
| A Humanities Course
from Reed College |
a
great deal of useful information on the Iliad, including a
thorough summary of the events of each book. |
| [Apollodorus], Summary of
the Iliad |
An interactive summary with images |
| The
Virtual Iliad |
"This page is intended to
provide an interactive and completely informative, in-depth
summary of Homer's Iliad." It does some of that, using
a narrative summary, a few hyperlinks, and some analysis. |
| Homer,
Iliad, Plot Summary and Discussion Issues |
A clear, fairly concise, nicely done
summary and discussion. |
Summaries of the Odyssey
| Homer,
the Odyssey: Plot Summary |
short and authoritative; from Albin
Lesky, A History of Greek Literature, trans. de Heer &
Willis, London: Methuen & Co., 1966 |
| ClassicNote
on the Odyssey |
a long, detailed summary of each
book, with analysis; a few annoying ads, but pretty good overall |
| Study
Guide for Homer's Odyssey |
detailed plot summary with analysis and some hypertext links to
more information; by Robin
Mitchell-Boyask, Temple University |
| Odysseus |
a cute
retelling of the Odyssey from Mythweb; Illustrated
by Mark Fiore; Text by Joel Skidmore;
includes a short version as well as a more detailed version that
also includes some informative hyperlinks |
(c) Thompson:
7/10/98; updated:
08/11/2007 |