Bloom's Major Poets - Homer - Comprehensive Research and Study Guide (88p) [Inua].pdf

Title: Homer
Editor: Harold Bloom
Age Range: 12 and up
Grade Level: 7 and up
Series: Bloom's Major Poets
Library Binding: 87 pages
Publisher: Chelsea House Publications (January 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0791059383
ISBN-13: 978-0791059388

Description:
-- User's guide
-- A comprehensive biography of the poet
-- Detailed thematic analysis of each poem
-- Extracts from major critical essays that discuss important aspects of each poem
-- A complete bibliography of the writer's poetic works
-- A list of critical works about the poet and his works
-- An index of themes and ideas in the author's work
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Homer (Ancient Greek: Ὅμηρος [hómɛːros], Hómēros) is best known as the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. He was believed by the ancient Greeks to have been the first and greatest of the epic poets. Author of the first known literature of Europe, he had a lasting effect on the Western canon.

The importance of Homer to the ancient Greeks is described in Plato's "Republic", which portrays him as the protos didaskalos, "first teacher," of the tragedians, the hegemon paideias, "leader of Greek culture," and the ten Hellada pepaideukon, "teacher of [all] Greece." Homer's works, which are about fifty percent speeches, provided models in persuasive speaking and writing that were emulated throughout the ancient and medieval Greek worlds. Fragments of Homer account for nearly half of all identifiable Greek literary papyrus finds in Egypt.