This material has been used for many years by Professor Tom Sienkewicz in his courses at Howard University and
at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois. If you have any questions, you may contact him at toms@monm.edu.
ANALYSIS OF ILIAD I
This analysis is based upon A Study of the "Iliad" in Translation by Frank Lowry Clark. (Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press, 1927).
I. Invocation: A prayer to the Muse stating the theme of the epic, 1-7
II. The prophet Chryses requests the release of his daughter, and is harshly refused by Agamemnon, 8-32
III. Chryses prays to Apollo to punish the Greeks. Apollo sends the Greeks a plague, 33-52
IV. The summoning of an assembly by Achilles, 53-67
V. Calchas reveals the cause of the plauge, 68-100
VI. Denunciation of Calchas by Agamemnon
VII. Agamemnon's unreasonable demand, 116-20
VIII. First phrase of the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles, 223-47
IX. Intervention of Athena, 188-222
X. Second phrase of the quarrel, 223-47
XI. Nestor's unsuccessful attempt to reconcile Agamemnon and Achilles, 247-84
XII. Third and final phrase of the quarrel, 285-303
XIII. Preparations for the return of Chryseis to her father, 304-17
XIV. The fetching of Briseis from the tent of Achilles, 318-48
XV. Achilles grieves with his mother Thetis, 348-430
XVI. Restoration of Chryseis, 430-87
XVII. The wrath of Achilles, 488-92
XVIII. Supplication of Thetis and promise of Zeus, 493-530
XIX. Quarrel between Zeus and Hera, 531-67
XX. Intervention of Hephaestus, 595-611 (end)