S.E. Bassett's classic work The Poetry of Homer investigates the rhetorical techniques that enable the Iliad and the Odyssey speak to both ancient and modern audiences. Somewhat neglected in the decades after its posthumous publication in 1938, it has become an immensely influential work and has left its mark on a generation of Classicists.

Samuel Eliot Bassett's classic work The Poetry of Homer investigates the rhetorical techniques that have made the Iliad and the Odyssey speak to audiences throughout the ages. Combining a sublime poetic sensitivity with thorough scholarship this work offers original analyses of many topics, including the Homeric narrator's presentation of his story, his evocation of character through direct speech, the organization of speeches and descriptions into vivd dramatic situations, the pacing and emotional weight of similes and narratorial interventions, and the expressive variation in rhythms and...