Introduce of Western Literature: Week 07

Virgil. the Aeneid

Virgil makes his transformation of Homer's hero an actual part of the story he tells.We see Aeneas gradually changing in a series of crises throughout the first half of the poem.Virgil presents Aeneas' departure from Troy as a departure from the values that had defined Homer's story of the war to capture Troy.Aeneas' refluctance to leave his native city is therefore both a credit to his commitment and an impediment to his historic mission.For every gain in this story there is a corresponding loss. One of the most memorable pictures of Aeneas is his weeping in Carthage as he contemplates depictions of the Trojan war:"there are tears for passing things;here,too/ things mortal touch the mind".Homer's heroes are no less capable of tears than Aeneas is, but the tears of no Homeric hero ever have such weighty moral and historic implications.

From: http://www.hope.edu/academic/ids/171/Aeneid.html

Vocabulary:

1.entreaty:懇求

2.deficient:有缺陷

3.xerox copy:靜電複製本