The Iliad: A Poem of Force and Pity

Trinity School at River Ridge faculty member Nick Fox writes on Homer’s ILIAD.

“This is, as far as I can tell, what we get from the first great war epic: the demystification of the glories of war and the tragic delusion of Force.”

The Iliad: A Poem of Force and Pity

Every fall I read the first stanza of the Iliad out loud to my students: “Sing, Goddess, the Anger of Peleus’ son Achilles / and its devastation…” (Iliad I:1-2). I ask them what the poem is about and eventually someone states the obvious: Achilles’ anger. Then I ask how the poem ends. Some…