23 AUGUST 1968, Page 5

Homer's ghost

CHRISTOPHER HOLLIS

An electronic computer has decided that the Odyssey and the Iliad were both the work of a single poet and not of composite authorship, but critics are complaining that the conclusion is faulty owing to defects in the material fed into the machine.

My tutor used to say The Odyssey was bitty With different parts by different hands, Produced by a committee.

Now the computer claims Its calculations show it Was written every line By but a single poet.

They fed the verses in, But calculation's curse is, Collating line with line, It muddles up the verses.

Though Homer nods at times, So, too, does the computer. Contrasting crank with crank, I tend to back my tutor.