Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T06:25:30.375Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Homeric Poetics

from Part I - Homeric Song and Text

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2020

Edited by
Corinne Ondine Pache
Edited in association with
Casey Dué ,
Susan Lupack  and
Robert Lamberton
Corinne Ondine Pache
Affiliation:
Trinity University, San Antonio
Casey Dué
Affiliation:
University of Houston
Susan Lupack
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Sydney
Robert Lamberton
Affiliation:
Washington University, St Louis
Get access

Summary

Starting from the demonstration by Milman Parry and Albert Lord that a complex traditional system developed over centuries for the composition in performance of epic song by deeply experienced poets is the engine of Homeric poetry, this essay describes the way that meaning is generated and can be identified within such a system. In all of the elements of the poem, from the smallest compositional unit (the line and its components) to the largest (the overall song consisting of many scroll-length songs each of which consists of concatenated themes), the experienced interpreter must grasp both its horizontal and vertical aspects ‒ in other words, an element’s place within the hierarchy of the whole as well as what differentiates any given element from its likes elsewhere in the tradition.

Keywords

masteryoral poeticsoriginalitycomplex systems
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Guide to Homer , pp. 21 - 35
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Further Reading

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×