As stated earlier, Burgess' writings were very scientific in nature, and naturally they read in a very scientific way. The book is presented as a study of the makings of Homers poetry and how his poetry (especially Iliad and Odyssey) became known as the Epic Cycle genre. He states, "Indeed, eventually the whole genre of epic poetry became equated with Homer." (pg 130)

The only problem that a reader might have with Burgess' work is that, even though it has a solid thesis, and a lot of supporting evidence, there seems to be little, if any, real purpose to the book. In actuality, Jonathan could have probably started his book with a statement from page 33 that states, "Trojan War material found in the Epic Cycle has very old roots and continued to be used by poets and artists throughout antiquity" and would have made his point just as well...
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