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Oct 30, 2023

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Brianna McGuire McGuire 1 4/13/2023 World Literature Professor Phillips Essay 2/Prompt 3 The Aeneid is an epic poem written by Virgil and it tells the story of Aeneas, a trojan prince who finds his way to the Italian shores to find a new city after the destruction of Troy. This poem is a very unique as it portrays the trials and tribulations of the prince on his journey, however many facts and analyzations have shown that this epic is indeed inspired by The Odyssey by Homer. Homer’s, The Odyssey tells the story of the king of Ithaca, Odysseus and his journey back home after the Trojan War. Key word, inspired. A fan fiction is a fictional writing written by a fan of a particular writing or show and it features characters and particular events from that writing. An adaptation is a movie, television drama, or stage play that has been adapted from a written work, typically a novel. Both epics have various similarities in telling the stories in each of the main characters' journeys however the distinction between the two epics can only be described as fan fiction because again, the key word inspired. Virgil’s inspiration for writing Aneid was Homer’s Odyssey which in way makes Virgil a fan of the epic. According to Steinberg, Virgil makes note of his inspiration for The Aeneid, “Virgil may have used… but he gave them his own stamp. Even in the poem’s first words, Virgil announces his debt to Homer: Arma virumque cano” which means, “I sing of arms and of a man. Virgil makes it known that he uses the Odyssey as a stepping stool for The Aeneid and makes sure that he pays homage. His inspiration and fan behavior of the Odyssey correlates with the meaning of a fan fiction, the only other part is that instead of using particular and specific characters from the Odyssey Virgil decided to mirror the main character, Odysseus in his own

Brianna McGuire McGuire 2 4/13/2023 World Literature Professor Phillips Essay 2/Prompt 3 way and make a character that is very similar to him again in his own depiction, this character being Aneas. According to the Internet Public Library, “ Both men had fought on opposite sides of the Trojan War, a war fought at Troy.” which is indeed true, not only does both characters fight at the Trojan War, but they are also royalty, and are both going on journey to fulfill a purpose and embody many more similarities. Not only does he mirror the characters but he always uses that same type of structure that was used in the Odyssey. Also according to Steinberg, “The Aeneid, like The Odyssey, begins in the middle of the action, tells a bit of the story, and then goes back to the beginning of the story and continues to the end.” Which is also indeed true, The Aeneid starts when Aeneas and his men were caught in a storm at sea, then Aeneas meets Dido, then leaves, visits the underworld and migrates to Italy where he has to fight to stay there. However, even though Odysseus and Aeneas are very similar and have very similar experiences in their journey, they are uniquely different. For one, Aeneas is displayed as duty-driven as said, “Duty-bound, Aeneas, though he struggles with desire… took the course heaven gave him and went back to the fleet.” (N.A. 1097, 520-526). Throughout the epic, Aeneas is depicted as obedient, loyal, and duty-driven. On the other hand, Odyssey is not duty-driven but is self driven because of his own wants and desires, which makes him selfish in way. He doesn't care about who he hurts and endangers in the end. This illustrates Virgil’s effort to make his own out of his inspiration that he used as a stepping stool for his epic. Even though, The Odyssey is indeed very similar to The Aeneid, Virgil finds ways in small details to depict his

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