Which critic contends that the poem invites comparison to The Iliad but without the healing that the other poem achieves by continuing?

Which critic contends that the poem invites comparison to The Iliad but without the healing that the other poem achieves by continuing?

• A. G.E. Duckworth - Structure of the Aeneid
• B. Denis Feeney - Plot
• C. Emma Buckley - Furor
• D. Gerry Nusbaum - Structure of the Aeneid

Answer: (B)

The main thing this question tests is how a critic reads the Aeneid’s narrative plan as a way to echo Homer while shaping what counts as healing or resolution. Denis Feeney’s focus on Plot is the best fit because he treats the sequence of events, turns, and aims of the narrative as the mechanism that invites comparison with The Iliad, yet refuses to deliver the same kind of healing that might come from simply continuing the epic in Homeric fashion. In Feeney’s view, Virgil crafts a plot that mirrors Homeric themes of war, fate, and divine influence, but redirects the outcome toward Rome’s founding rather than a restorative closure of the Trojan War. That shift produces a different kind of healing—a civic, historical telos—rather than personal or martial reconciliation. Other critics emphasize aspects like formal structure or themes such as furor; while valuable, those angles don’t foreground how the plot itself orchestrates intertextual comparison with Homer and the distinct kind of closure Virgil pursues.

The main thing this question tests is how a critic reads the Aeneid’s narrative plan as a way to echo Homer while shaping what counts as healing or resolution. Denis Feeney’s focus on Plot is the best fit because he treats the sequence of events, turns, and aims of the narrative as the mechanism that invites comparison with The Iliad, yet refuses to deliver the same kind of healing that might come from simply continuing the epic in Homeric fashion. In Feeney’s view, Virgil crafts a plot that mirrors Homeric themes of war, fate, and divine influence, but redirects the outcome toward Rome’s founding rather than a restorative closure of the Trojan War. That shift produces a different kind of healing—a civic, historical telos—rather than personal or martial reconciliation. Other critics emphasize aspects like formal structure or themes such as furor; while valuable, those angles don’t foreground how the plot itself orchestrates intertextual comparison with Homer and the distinct kind of closure Virgil pursues.