Who Did Homer Read? - Writing and Editing Advice by Greg Luti
- Greg Luti
- Jun 5
- 5 min read
A common piece of writing advice is to read constantly in order to improve. In “Who Did Homer Read?,” Greg Luti challenges that idea by looking at Homer, the ancient poet credited with the Iliad and the Odyssey, who may never have read a book at all — yet still became one of the most influential writers in history by drawing stories directly from the world and oral traditions around him.
The Common Advice: Read More
There is a bit of writing advice that I do agree with, and I think, for the most part, many writers agree with it. The advice is something that is given so much to people to help them improve themselves, that it may not even be given only to writers.
The advice is simple. If you want to be a better writer, you should read. I think I can speak for most writers when I say that is some good advice. To be a better writer, you should read.
Why is that the case, though? Well, it increases your vocabulary, gives you new ideas, and helps you see what good writing is (assuming you are reading those worth reading). I guess we can change the advice slightly to read those who are great at writing to become a better writer, rather than reading any book you pick up off the street. Which I guess makes sense. You wouldn’t go to the local gym and then expect to learn how to play the sport by watching random dudes play. You would attend a professional match, and one where those who know what they are doing display their talent. If you want to improve your own ability in anything, learn from those who do that thing the best.
How Reading Shapes My Writing
I find that when I read certain books, my writing for a brief period of time mimics that style. I am not trying to write that way; it is only that style, that voice, that is still on my mind, so when I have a chance to record a few things, I will naturally take from something I recently read. Think of those who sound like Shakespeare after they read him. That is good to an extent, but I would argue the writer should find their own voice too.
But Then There’s Homer
That gets me to a question I have about reading and writing and the connection between the two. I just got over telling you how reading is beneficial for writers. It is better for everyone. Heck, if we wanted to make this society a better place, then we would all read a little bit more. There is no debate there. I am not even trying to come up with a witty way to make you rethink that idea, because I agree with it. But as long as I have been agreeing with that approach, there is a writer who defies that method and makes me question what I am even telling you.
His name is Homer. You may have heard of him. He wrote two of the oldest stories from the ancient world. He is so old that people we say are ancient called him ancient. In fact, we know so little about the guy that we don’t even know if he even existed. Regardless of when you go into a bookstore, one name will always be in it: Homer.
The man is considered the first great writer the world has had. The one name that influenced other writers over the years. We all know of the city of Troy, Achilles, the Trojan War, and Odysseus, and it is mostly because of Homer. He is the guy who kind of put it all together.
Who Was Homer Really?
The popular belief is that Homer was more of a compiler of the stories he heard other bards tell than a writer in the traditional sense. He learned of various stories and then put them down in one coherent tale. He didn’t really sit at a laptop writing up words, or have a quill pen ready to record his great verse. He knew of the stories and then gave them poetic flair with his own use of the language.
The Big Contradiction
You may have noticed something I didn’t say or include about Homer. And that is, he was a voracious reader, because we simply don’t know. Perhaps Homer walked around with books and read as much as a person studying for a law test. That could very well be the case, and that only proves the original advice I gave you. I do have a hard time telling you with a straight face that reading is the best thing you can do as a writer, and then when I look at Homer, I think, “What did that guy read? Where did he get his ideas from?” It is wrong for me not to at the very least address the obvious contradiction. Here I am telling you to read, and yet a writer better than most who ever lived may not have actually read.
The Blind Poet
To make the situation even more wild, there is a theory that this Homer fella was blind. Yeah, so one of the best writers ever did not read, could not see, and yet somehow created timeless works that are still studied to this day. I swear you can’t even make this stuff up sometimes.
Perhaps there is a lesson we can take from Homer, and that is the story, the great tale, the epic you wish to write, is not as far away from you as you may think. It is all around you, and if it is not in your direct world, then there are echoes of it in those who walk among you and who you live with every day. Do you really think that Homer walked around and thought, “Boy, I just don’t know what to write.” No, he knew a very important part of writing is not the creation of the ideas, or the grasping of them through reading, but the recognition of the potential of a story in all the information he knew.
And that is just what he did. So he took a little bit from here, a story of a myth from there, added a character trait here, and then what did he make? Something completely original but also very familiar.
The Real Lesson from Homer
So yes, you should read, and that should help you with your words, but don’t forget to be like Homer when he was putting together his stories, as he learned that stories are all around us; sometimes, you just need to know where to look.
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