"Homer's Odyssey" is a commentary of the ancient Greek epic poem, 'The Oddyssey' by the literary critic Denton Jaques Snider. Snider sets out a synopsis of the ancient text in two parts of twelve books each. He looks at the main events taking place, the central characters involved and the thematic areas covered such as Greek politics, war, romance, tragedy and religion. The book also differentiates "The Odyssey" from Homer's other famous work, "The Iliad" stating that, "The Odyssey starts by organizing itself; it maps out its own structure in what may be called a General Introduction. Herein lies a significant difference between it and the Iliad, which has simply an Invocation to the Muse, and then leaps into the thick of the action. The Iliad, accordingly, does not formulate its own organization, which fact has been one cause of the frequent assaults upon its unity. Still the architectonic principle is powerful in the Iliad, though more instinctive, and far less explicit than in the Odyssey. It is reasonable to suppose, therefore, that the poet has reached a profounder consciousness of his art in his later poem; he has come to a knowledge of his constructive principle, and he takes the trouble to unfold the same at the beginning."