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Return to Bibliography of Willa Cather's Readings

Bibliography: Iliad by Homer

Title
Iliad
Author
Homer
Date
c. 750 BCE
Genre
poetry
Note Source
Lewis 21; Alexander's Bridge Chap. 3; Collected Short Fiction 1892-1912 291
Note Relating to Cather

According to Lewis, Cather read the Iliad, Virgil, and Ovid with William Ducker, the town dreamer (and "failure") while living in Red Cloud.

In Alexander's Bridge, Alexander does not want to become "a Nestor de pontibus," a Nestor of bridges; in Homer's Iliad Nestor is too old to fight, so instead inspires soldiers through his storytelling.

In "The Professor's Commencement" the narrator describes Emerson Graves as a young man "with the strength of Ulysses and the courage of Hector . . . ."