> I love bashing acclaimed literature (I *hate* Ernest Hemingway), but I'm going to have to speak up in defense of each of these. The Iliad, I think, is revered more for the insight into an ancient culture than for its literary accomplishments,

Agreed. I wouldn't mind reading it in a World History class. But to praise it for it's great characters (something that was done a lot in the English class that I read it in) is total crap. The only mildly interesting character is Achilles, and he's really not too interesting, he's just your standard Greek hero. The rest are all largely the same person. I really don't think it has any interesting literary qualities whatsoever, but it's undeniably an important historical document.

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> Shakespeare was brilliant. Just thought I'd say that.

Yup. There's a guy who is _rightfully_ celebrated. He writes actual characters that one can care about, and he also understands the concept of a plot. An odd idea for "classics" but I really appreciate it whenever I read his stuff.