Homer's Influence on Heroism and Modern Narrative

If you are a literature or film buff, like me, there is no doubt that you have heard of the term or genera, "heroism". It is in almost every great love and adventure story. For those that are new to the term, lets define it. So, what is "heroism"? What are heroes? Is it not just a great David Bowie song? Oxford dictionary defines heroism as "very great courage", so if you are thinking of examples of Thor, Frodo Baggins ,or even Shrek, you are headed in the right direction. In the scholarly world, outside movies and Lord of the Rings, heroism is known to be derived from legends of the Greek gods. There are many great writers from antiquity that helped derive the genera and plot that modernized heroism to what it is today, but who is the great writer that started it all? Who influenced other antiquity writers and created heroism? In this blog post I intend to prove my thesis that Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey are the literary pieces that paved the way for other authors to discuss and introduce heroism, whilst also changing the structure of literature and influencing narrative. According to K. Raaflaub, ‘Homer, the Trojan War and History’, The Iliad and The Odyssey were written between approximately 750 and 660 BC. The publication dates of these literary pieces have been vastly controversial for scholars; however, I will be referring to this journal's time table as it was the first journal presented in HISB10. The Iliad is the first epic poem to be written out of the two that I will be discussing. Homer's initial poem details the battles and events of the Trojan War whilst also focusing on the final year of the war and the Greek gods and war heroes that either help or hinder the war and the fall of Troy. Similarly, the epic poem, The Odyssey also discusses the Trojan war; however, it follows the return home of a great war hero. So what makes Homer so remarkable in comparison to other writers in antiquity? K. Raaflaub sated that "For '"Homer,"' the poet of the Iliad, stood at the end of a long tradition of epic song." This tradition of epic song turned into Homers creation of epic poetry. This creation of a new literary form influenced many poets and even had the term "homerism" named after this style of writing. Fang Wen-Jun, from the College of Foreign Languages, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University in China states " Homer created the main literary form—epic. The Iliad and the Odyssey were considered the greatest epic poems in the world. And Homer was called “the father of epic poetry”. “Epic is a long poem about the deeds of one or more great heroes, or a nation’s past history.”' This creation is important because it changed poetry and story telling forever. '"Homer was regarded as the first Greek historian, the greatest master of Greek literature, and the final authority of Greek mythology.” During his life, he wrote two great works, the Iliad and the Odyssey, which were Homer’s masterpieces. The Iliad and the Odyssey had their own characteristics and they had a great impact on European literature. The appearance of Homeric epics were the beginning of western literature. Both were regarded as “Bible of European literature”. Many subsequent western writers were influenced by these two works during their literary creation." (Fang Wen-Jun, 2019) This quote parallels my thesis that Homer drastically impacted and created heroism and changed literature forever. Many other scholars believe " Homeric epics were the beginning of western literature. " and compare the works to other influential poets. For example, Peter Hufnagel's essay " The epic decision; from Homer to Milton" compares Homer's the Iliad to Milton's, Paradise Lost. " Milton's Paradise Lost draws upon the classical epic tradition, while seeking to revise it in Christian terms. Adam's tragic choice in Book IX is modeled on Achilles' in Homer's Iliad. Achilles chooses to live a short but heroic life rather than a long but inglorious life. Confronted with Eve's transgression in Book IX, Adam makes a similar choice--to join Eve in sin and thereby expose himself to the possibility of death." Furthermore, Hufnagel states " The epic is more than just a story written to entertain audiences. Homer's Iliad and Odyssey were not merely derivatives of the ancient Greek warrior culture; they are the source out of which classical culture emerged. The "epic shows a tendency to become a 'scripture' of its culture. Such a poem is in fact not so much a cultural production as a cultural producer." (4) Therefore, Achilles's tragic choice becomes the guiding light for the heroes of the classical world. They are expected to choose to win honor fighting in faraway battles over living a quiet life at home. It is for their culture the noble choice, the morally right choice--what the gods expect of them", which again reinstates my thesis that Homer created heroism and changed the literary world by bringing these heroes into classical culture. I believe it is important to consider Homer when discussing or thinking about literature and heroism. As proved by the scholarly articles, comparing Homer's work to other literary resources, and looking at the heroic journey's patented plot that takes place in modern and past generations of antiquity writers, it is clear Homer changed the game when it comes to heroic narrative and poetry. Like previously stated in my thesis many modern narratives follow this pattern. For example, the movie Troy is a rendition of Homer's work, yet, all anyone remembers is how great Brad Pitt looked in his armour. The cycle of the hero has been shown in films like Disney's Hercules, Saving Private Ryan and countless others. I believe that this is all thanks to Homer and his narrative of the hero. To end my post I will leave you with the words of Homer himself, from the Iliad. " “Like the generations of leaves, the lives of mortal men. Now the wind scatters the old leaves across the earth, now the living timber bursts with the new buds and spring comes round again. And so with men: as one generation comes to life, another dies away.” Much like the leaves and the bursting spring, Homer founded a new generation of poetry and narrative much like his characters in his work. Work Cited Links https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/heroism?q=heroism http://oss.wanfangdata.com.cn.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/www/The%20Influence%20of%20Homer's%20Iliad%20and%20Odyssey%20on%20Euro.ashx?isread=true&type=perio&resourceId=hwyy-z201902087&transaction=%7B%22id%22%3Anull%2C%22transferOutAccountsStatus%22%3Anull%2C%22transaction%22%3A%7B%22id%22%3A%221331926348364521472%22%2C%22status%22%3A1%2C%22createDateTime%22%3Anull%2C%22payDateTime%22%3A1606390962102%2C%22authToken%22%3A%22TGT-4168129-uaKtEi4Fscep14aklHFNcqa0nUGklOqSpAl16kqV6FtRusDrNf-my.wanfangdata.com.cn%22%2C%22user%22%3A%7B%22accountType%22%3A%22Group%22%2C%22key%22%3A%22g_ut%22%7D%2C%22transferIn%22%3A%7B%22accountType%22%3A%22Income%22%2C%22key%22%3A%22PeriodicalFulltext%22%7D%2C%22transferOut%22%3A%7B%22GTimeLimit.g_ut%22%3A3.0%7D%2C%22turnover%22%3A3.0%2C%22orderTurnover%22%3A3.0%2C%22productDetail%22%3A%22perio_hwyy-z201902087%22%2C%22productTitle%22%3Anull%2C%22userIP%22%3A%22142.150.190.39%22%2C%22organName%22%3Anull%2C%22memo%22%3Anull%2C%22orderUser%22%3A%22g_ut%22%2C%22orderChannel%22%3A%22pc%22%2C%22payTag%22%3A%22%22%2C%22webTransactionRequest%22%3Anull%2C%22signature%22%3A%22AXsSb2JeUJeTyjf9WzcCIR8t2xJlLCFgVEE6F0dC02InWz5q9gj6Z37TVHio6El03GM7K3OBN1M%2F%5Cne%2Fwbo9NEK0jcBga35x0h5efV7gg7o7MdojCE8lidREBNd1r3Xkjubf2ZkISw%2F6n1uzze2gmDv0zI%5CncACkXPV3va0w2S1cHZg%3D%22%2C%22delete%22%3Afalse%7D%2C%22isCache%22%3Afalse%7D https://q.utoronto.ca/courses/166130/pages/k-raaflaub-homer-the-trojan-war-and-history?module_item_id=1749541 https://go-gale-com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/ps/i.do?p=CIC&u=utoronto_main&id=GALE|A287112006&v=2.1&it=r&sid=summon https://www.boyle.kyschools.us/UserFiles/88/The%20Odyssey.pdf https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6130/6130-pdf.pdf