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... That is the best way to describe the work of Virgil; this becomes most clearly apparent in comparing the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer to Virgil’s Aeneid. In Virgil’s era, writers such as Homer and Euripides were heralded as great writers of their time. Hence, Virgil strove to appropriate the best elements of these popular styles but also, in a way, to create an individual style by building upon the echoes of these inspirations. Though he certainly drew certain concepts from several well-known writers as well as personalizing the style of his epic, the Aeneid most noticeably evokes Homer and his epics, ubiquitously renowned among Greeks and Romans alike and therefore holding the position of the gold standard for poetry. The style of the Aeneid as a whole, though, remains unique due both to Virgil as an individual creative thinker and to the differences in the circumstances under which Virgil and Homer composed their works.
From Homer, Virgil made the decision to format his story in the use of hexameter verse and epithets. For example, Virgil frequently refers to Aeneas as “pious Aeneas,” “godfearing Aeneas,” and the like. ... These epithets primarily serve as a poetic device to extend a character’s name to various syllabic lengths, facilitating the preservation of the hexameter verse structure.
Approximate Word count = 1041
Approximate Pages = 4.2
(250 words per page double spaced)
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