Homeric Style

5/26/2018 Homeric Style

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Characteristics of Homeric Text

Beginning in medias res

Cinematic presentation of events and of

warfare

Sense imagery

Exaggerated, leisurely pace of story-telling

Dislike of suspense

Fondness for lists (genealogies,catalogues), may derive from an oral wayof organizing information


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Homers Style

Use of PARALLELISM when discussing events,characters and gods

Special formulaic language of the aoidos (like

bard) such as fixed and recurring epithets and

type scenes Homeric epithet

an element of poetic diction

Use of SIMILES Homeric simile

Similes - far more common in the Iliadthan theOdyssey

a way of stopping the action, commenting on it,

enriching or judging it


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Homeric epithet A non-Germanic analogue of kenning

An adjectival term (Homer joined adjective) Usually a compound of two words

Homer used it as formulas in referring to

someone or something

express the characteristic of a person or thing

Example:fleet-footed Achilles

bolt-hurling Zeus

the wine-dark sea

rosy-fingered dawn.

white-armed Hera

well-grieved Achaeansbronze-clad Achaeans

cloud gathering Zeus

loud roaring sea

god like Paris


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kenning concise compound or figurative phrase replacing a

common noun, especially in Old Germanic, OldNorse, and Old English poetry.

A kenning is commonly a simple stock compound

such as whale-path or swan road for sea,

God's beacon for sun,

ring-giver for king.

Many kennings are allusions that become

unintelligible to later generations.


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Homeric Similes

An extended simile

Some cases running to

15/20 lines

The comparisons are

elaborate in considerable

detail

common feature of epic

poetry

also found in other genre to intensify the heroic

stature of the subject and to

serve as decoration.


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Simile

the simileis one of the hallmarks of

Homers style

a simile is an explicit comparison of two

things, using like or as

e.g. my teacher drinks like a fish and,

because of that, he looks like Ramses II


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The Homeric Simile - exampleFallen on one side, as on the stalk

a poppy falls, weighed down by showering spring,

beneath his helmets weight his head sank down.

Iliad8.306-8 (the death of Gorgythion)

the flower and the dying hero bend over in alike manner

both have colorful tops: one has a flower and

the other a crested helmet


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The Homeric Simile but the flower and the hero are more different

than alike: man vs. plant

dying in battle vs. growing in the rain

noisy dirty battlefield vs. serene rainfall this sort of union of opposites is called oxymoron

literally in Greek, sharp-blunt

e.g. a bittersweetlovea deafening silence

a sophomore(smart fool)


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The Homeric Simile- example

As when the shudder of the west wind

suddenly rising scatters across the water,

and the water darkens beneath it, so

darkening were settled the ranks ofAchaians and Trojans in the plain.


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But swift Aias the son of Oleus would not at all

now take his stand apart from Telamonian Aias,

not even a little; but as two wine-coloured oxenstraining

with even force drag the compacted plough

through the fallow land,

and for both of them at the base of the horns thedense sweat gushes;

only the width of the polished yoke keeps a space

between themas they toil down the furrow till the share cuts the

edge of the plough land;

so these took their stand in battle, close to each

other.


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Homer and Plot

Aristotle analyzed plot as a literaryrepresentation of a single action (praxis): itsbeginning, middle, and end.

The action of the Iliad: the anger of Achilles.

Modern films have 3 parts separated by a plotpoint (an incident that changes the direction ofthe story).

Primary plot points of a 120 minute film appearat minutes 30 and 90, with a subordinate plotpoint at minute 60, the midpoint of the film.


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tripartite structure in Homeric epic

The Iliad

Plot point 1: the quarrel between Achilles andAgamemnon, who takes away his concubine

(Books 1-16).

Secondary plot point: the embassy to Achilles

Plot point 2: the death of Patroklus (Achillesavenges him and abandons his anger).


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Narrative Units

Invocation: TheAnger of Achilles(1.1-7)

Homer places the

theme before us, infact, in the first word.

He begins not such

much in medias resbutat the beginning ofhis story (the anger).

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Homeric Style