Writing About Homer’s Iliad
Homer’s Iliad raises questions that reach far beyond the events of the Trojan War: What makes a hero? What happens when personal honor conflicts with responsibility to others? How much control do human beings have over their lives? What does war demand from the people who fight it—and from those who wait for them at home?
The following writing prompts can be used for brief responses, class discussion, analytical paragraphs, or full literary essays. Teachers may assign them in sequence or select individual prompts to accompany particular books, characters, or themes.
Short Writing Prompts
- At the beginning of the poem, what is Achilles angry about? Explain why the dispute with Agamemnon matters so much to him.
- Is Agamemnon acting primarily as a leader or as a man defending his own status in Book 1? Explain your answer.
- Choose one intervention by a god. What changes because the god becomes involved?
- What does Hector’s meeting with Andromache reveal about him that scenes on the battlefield do not?
- Why does Patroclus ask to enter the fighting wearing Achilles’ armor? What does he hope to accomplish?
- How does Achilles change after the death of Patroclus?
- Choose one epic simile. What does the comparison add to the scene that a straightforward description would not?
- Why is the treatment of a warrior’s body so important in the Iliad?
- What does Priam ask Achilles to remember when he comes to recover Hector’s body?
- The Iliad ends with Hector’s funeral rather than the fall of Troy. What effect does that ending have on the poem?
Text-Based Analytical Prompts
Honor and Anger
Explain how the conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon shows the importance of honor in the world of the Iliad. Use specific evidence from the poem.
Achilles’ Choice
Achilles knows that different choices may lead to different kinds of life and fame. Analyze what his choices reveal about the value he places on glory, life, friendship, and reputation.
Hector at War and at Home
Compare Hector as a warrior with Hector as a husband, father, and son. How do these different roles complicate our understanding of heroism?
The Gods and Human Responsibility
Choose one or more moments of divine intervention. Analyze how the actions of the gods affect human choices. To what extent do the human characters remain responsible for what they do?
Patroclus as a Turning Point
Explain why the death of Patroclus changes the direction of the poem. Consider both the military consequences and the effect on Achilles.
Enemies and Shared Humanity
Compare Achilles’ treatment of Hector immediately after Hector’s death with his treatment of Priam near the end of the poem. What accounts for the change?
War Through Epic Simile
Choose two epic similes connected with battle. Analyze what the images outside the battlefield contribute to the reader’s understanding of war.
Women and the Cost of War
Using figures such as Andromache, Hecuba, Helen, or Briseis, analyze how the Iliad shows the effects of war beyond the warriors who fight it.
Full Essay Assignments
1. What Makes a Hero in the Iliad?
The Iliad presents several different models of heroic behavior. Develop an argument about what the poem ultimately suggests makes a person heroic. You may consider Achilles, Hector, Patroclus, Priam, or other figures. Support your argument with evidence from more than one part of the poem.
2. The Price of Glory
Warriors in the Iliad seek honor and lasting fame, but those values carry serious costs. Analyze the relationship between glory and suffering in the poem. Does Homer simply celebrate heroic glory, or does the poem also ask readers to question its price? Build your argument from specific passages and events.
3. Achilles: Anger, Grief, and Change
Trace Achilles from his quarrel with Agamemnon through his meeting with Priam. Develop an argument about whether—and in what sense—Achilles changes. Do not simply summarize events; explain what the changes in his actions and emotions mean.
4. Hector and Achilles
Compare Hector and Achilles as warriors and as human beings. Consider their obligations, motivations, relationships, fears, and attitudes toward death. Use the comparison to develop an argument about the Iliad’s treatment of heroism.
5. Gods, Fate, and Human Choice
The gods repeatedly intervene in the Trojan War, while characters also speak about fate. Develop an argument about how much freedom human beings possess in the Iliad. How does the poem balance divine power, fate, and individual choice?
6. The Iliad as a Poem About Mortality
Although the Iliad is filled with warfare, its deepest subject may be the fact that human beings must die. Analyze how mortality shapes the values, choices, grief, and relationships of the poem’s characters.
7. Priam and Achilles
Analyze the meeting between Priam and Achilles in Book 24. Why is this encounter an appropriate climax for a poem that begins with Achilles’ anger? Explain how the scene develops important ideas that have appeared throughout the Iliad.
8. Why End with Hector?
The Iliad does not narrate the fall of Troy, the Trojan Horse, or Achilles’ death. Instead, it ends with the mourning and burial of Hector. Develop an argument explaining why this ending is significant and how it shapes the meaning of the poem as a whole.
Using Evidence from the Text
A strong response to the Iliad does more than describe what happens. It uses details from the poem to support an interpretation.
- Begin with a clear claim that answers the question rather than merely announcing the topic.
- Use specific passages, actions, speeches, or images from the poem as evidence.
- Give book and line numbers when your edition provides them; otherwise use the citation system your teacher requires.
- Explain your evidence. Do not assume that a quotation proves the point by itself.
- Pay attention to context: who is speaking, what has just happened, and what is at stake?
- Distinguish between what a character says and what the poem as a whole may suggest.
- For a longer essay, use evidence from more than one part of the Iliad whenever possible.
Free Printable Guide
Students and teachers may request a free printable version of this guide. The PDF includes The Iliad Writing Prompts and Essay Assignments that students can use to record comparisons as they encounter them and move from identification to interpretation.
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