As a general rule, ancient literary critics focus their attention on the poet as the one who gives the text its particular shape and as such is in control of things. Nevertheless, they fully recognise that the poet is not operating in isolation, but directs his poem to a more or less specific addressee. Consequently, the scholia also regularly discuss the ways in which the poet communicates with the reader. Their arguments concentrate on the effects which the poet intends to bring about in the reader and how this is done.

A good starting-point is a longer scholion on Odysseus' long narrative in Odyssey 9–12 (the so-called Apologues). It combines several points which recur elsewhere and therefore can give a first overview of what will later be examined in detail: