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Structure and Content in Epic Formulae: The Question of the Unique Expression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

J. B. Hainsworth
Affiliation:
King's College, London

Extract

The contention that the Homeric epics, and perhaps also the Hesiodic poems and the Homeric Hymns, are the products, directly or at a very short remove, of a tradition of orally improvised poetry is widely accepted as a basic premiss in Homeric criticism. The cogency of the argument depends on the frequency and characteristic use of formulae in the early hexameter poetry, and their rarity in the literature of Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman times, which is known or assumed to have been composed in the study. The reasoning appears to me valid, but in some respects overstated or ambiguously stated in recent publications, and the first fault arises out of the second.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1964

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