The Iliad

by SparkNotes, Homer

SparkNotes Literature Guides:
Making the reading experience fun!
 
When a paper is due, and dreaded exams loom, here's the lit-crit help students need to succeed! SparkNotes Literature Guides make studying smarter, better, and faster. They provide chapter-by-chapter analysis; explanations of key themes, motifs, and symbols; a review quiz; and essay topics. Lively and accessible, SparkNotes is perfect for late-night studying and paper writing.
 
Includes: An A+ Essay—an actual literary essay written about the Spark-ed book—to show students how a paper should be written.

16 pages devoted to writing a literary essay including: a glossary of literary terms
Step-by-step tutoring on how to write a literary essay
A feature on how not to plagiarize

Genres: Classics, Reference, Mythology, Nonfiction, Literary Criticism

88 pages, Paperback

Published January 10, 2002

About the author

Many of the editions by this group of authors are actually guides to books rather than the works.

If the author of the SparkNotes is known, they should be the first author. Please leave these SparkNotes Editors as the second author and the author of the original work as the last author. Do not combine with the original work. Do not put the author of the ORIGINAL work first.

Link to discussion.

Reviews

[Maede]

:کتاب راهنمای مطالعه‌ی ایلیاد که این بخش‌ها رو داره
لیست کاراکترها و آنالیزشون
توضیحات تِم، موتیف و سمبل‌ها
خلاصه‌های مختصر و مفید ( معمولاً چند سرود با هم یکی شده)
تحلیل‌های کوتاه، گاهی با نکات متفاوت

کلا سعی شده خیلی کوتاه و مخصوص دانشجوی دم امتحانی باشه

۱۴۰۳/۱/۲۰

[Wren]

Last summer I read The Odyssey, and it helped me to read a guide before /during. This year, I am preparing to read the Iliad. While traveling this summer, I brought this guide and read it cover-to-cover a couple of times. I also read A Thousand Ships by Natalie Hayes, which is a contemporary novel about the women in the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Having read through this study guide, I have
* an introduction to the characters (Trojans vs Acheans)
* the conflict (Achilles' anger about his war "bride" then his anger about the death of his "friend"), * * the role of a number of gods (Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hermes, Iris, Athena, Hera, Thetis, Hephaestus),
* some of the main battles between great warriors (Achilles and Hector chief among them)

I can have greater comprehension when I read the text of the Iliad (Robert Fagles translation) directly.

[Bernie4444]

Essential yet I suggest you read the Iliad first

In many cases reading the Spark Notes first will allow you to be prepared to see the important parts of the work and be aware of what you're reading.

Of course, the real purpose of Spark Notes is to help with writing a literary analysis. And it does this quite well. However, if you read this (pamphlet) before reading the Iliad it looks like so much disjointed information. You can also bypass details that did not seem important to Spark Notes but can be the hinge point of the purpose of the story.

That being said you cannot afford not to come back to spark notes to see what it is you might've missed.

Spark notes are well organized with context, character list, character analysis, symbols, summary and analysis, quotations, key facts, study questions, and of course literary analysis.

[Walter]

The Iliad in Sparknotes

The way the Iliad is presented in verses, it is somewhat difficult to understand and follow. In order to get a better understanding on the characters, the plot and the personal interactions, I highly recommend that you read this or another similar guide.

WLM of SC

[Debra]

I don't care how you will judge me by this but I hate the Illiad- reading it I felt like Homer should have had his tongue cut out as well.
Although I am curious as to WHY the Illiad is not on goodreads but teh sparknotes are.

[Lauren]

I needed this so much when reading the Iliad and I'm usually not one for taking the easy route.

[Wallis]

It's a good general guide, and I guess it's helpful, but in the end, I really got more out of just reading the book itself.