Iliad Dialectical Journals

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Iliad Dialectical Journals

• Overall views. Some were awesome and, with
  permission from the authors, will be used to
  model journals for future classes.
• Showed detailed analysis, clever commentary and
  made me smile!

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Most were in the high B to A- range.

• Moments of scholarly insight but other times
  flavored with Ive got to get this done
  interpretation.

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Some were an exercise in meeting the basics of
the assignment.

• The god-like son of Peleus wanted to win that
  glory for himself (68).
• Everyone wants glory. And glory can be obtained
  for many reasons.

Generic response. Uses an untouchable. Could
apply to anything.
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Expand, analyze, probe

• The god-like son of Peleus wanted to win that
  glory for himself (68).
• The epithet , god-like, appears often throughout
  the Iliad, usually to define a great fighter,
  illustrating the Greeks obsession with that
  skill.

Analyze the literary devices used in the text.
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Add an analysis of the Greek culture.
Applied to my own life and made an allusion to
the Bible.

• The epithet , god-like, appears often throughout
  the Iliad, usually to define a great fighter,
  illustrating the Greeks obsession with that
  skill. In contrast to my view of a loving and
  forgiving God who preaches to turn the other
  cheek in the presence of violence, the greek gods
  were capricious and used the warriors as their
  own pawns in a game of war. It didnt seem to
  matter whose cause was the most valiant, only who
  fought with the most skill.

Used a vocabulary word.
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Watch voice

• Even in academic journalingwatch kicking into
  casual voice. Loses credibility.
• Excellent
• I did not come here because the Trojans have
  injured me (Achilles 48).
• Achilles had gone to aid his friend Menelaus.
  Its almost like the phrase the enemy of my
  enemy is my friend except that in this case it
  would be reversed to my friend's enemy is my
  enemy. The Greek men are honor bound to defend,
  not only their own homes, but the homes of their
  friends and countrymen as well.

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Poor voice

• This is probably the goriest act thourhgout the
  Iliad and I really hate Achilles all the more
  because of it. Youd think this would bring down
  someones honor-gage unless Hector had personally
  dishonored them. I guess it would be Okay then.
  (Okay, okay, I really dont think that ?).
• Then dont write it!

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Response

• Once a child becomes an orphan, she continued,
  his friends leave him. With a bowed head and
  tears on his cheeks, he approaches his fathers
  friends, tugging at their coats. The one who
  pities him will offer him a cup for a moment,
  enough to wet his lips but not enough to fill his
  mouth. And a child whose parents still live
  strikes him and pushes him away from the table
  saying Go away! No father of yours is eating
  with us! So the needy child tearfully returns to
  his widowed mother. Poor Astyanax, who has known
  only the best of love and care ! (72)

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Analysis

• Homer cuts from the scenes of manly men to a
  touching interaction between wife, son and
  father. Andromache pleads with Hector to think
  of his family, and gives insight into the role of
  the man as head of the household. Even though
  one talks of a Greek hero, abandoning women and
  children upon the death of the male leader is not
  heroic at all. Hector chooses death so that he
  can die with honor, but leaves his family to live
  in poverty and despair. Andromache will be taken
  captive as a prize of honor, separated from her
  baby and treated as a slave. There is no honor
  in abandoning your family.

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Writers workshop

• Read the directions!
• Save timecut extra words like, In this passage
  the writer discusses.
• Apply the literature terms (heroic hero, arete,
  Homeric simile
• Identify a theme to develop. It will help with
  organization. This year we look at the Heros
  Journey. How do the Iliad characters measure up
  to your definition of a Hero.