Pages

Subscribe:

Ads 468x60px

Monday, December 3, 2012

THE "ILLIAD" GENRE

Epic Poetry, Tragedy, War Drama

On a basic level, are epic because the concept of epic comes from Homeric poems. If that sounds too circular, then just bear in mind that the Iliad  is an extremely long narrative poem, which deals with the heroic actions of mortals, gods, and demi-gods . For the Ancient Greeks, it was also important that an epic be written in the poetic meter of dactylic hexameter .

 At the same time, however, the Iliad is also a tragedy, because it focuses on the downfall of a great hero – Achilleus – as a result of his own flawed character. (In this case, the cases  are his super-excessive anger, pride, and grief.)


Because most of the Iliad set in battles in the Trojan War, it also falls into the category of War Drama. As such, it provides many important insights into the nature of war and its place in human life.

0 comments:

Post a Comment