- Choose any passage (approximately 10-15 lines) from Iliad.
I chose Iliad Book 12 (lines 6-20):
When they built that wall
And drove the trench around it to protect their ships
And all their plunder, they neglected to offer
Formal sacrifice to the immortal gods.
Built against the will of the immortals,
The wall could not endure for long.
While Hector lived and Achilles raged
And the city of Priam was still unpillaged,
The great wall of the Greeks stood firm.
But when all the best Trojans had died
And many Greeks had fallen or had left
And after ten years Priam's city had fallen
And the Greeks had sailed back to their native land,
Then Poseidon and Apollo conspired
To sweep away the wall,
- Decide what the main purpose of that passage is. Does it help to define a character? Set a mood? Elicit a particular emotion from the reader? Establish a relationship between two characters?
- Once you have established the purpose, choose three significant words in that passage, then write a five-paragraph essay in which you argue for the importance of those three words as they relate to the passage's primary purpose.
The words I chose are: protect, will of the immortals, and wall.
You will need to:
- Create an arguable thesis statement that answers the question, "Why are these three words so important to the purpose of this passage?"
My thesis statement is:
The words protect, will, and wall show that the immortal gods control fate despite humans' free will.
- Use direct quotations from Iliad, citing the Book and line(s) numbers: e.g., (5.22).