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Formulas
and basic ideas of heroic poetry (iii, iv, and v above). We may call these
the high-level rules of the poetical grammar. The basic ideas then give rise
to repeated forms of expression - and a problem. It is convenient for many
purposes to define a formula, in the first instance, as an expression repeated
in a text. Nothing more is required, for example, for examining the extension
and economy of groups of name-epithet formulas. Yet the objectivity
of this definition is illusory. Most discussions of formular usage sooner or
later use the repetition of the phrase as evidence for 'formula' in the sense
of a word-group that exists before it is employed in the same way as a
word exists. A formula in this sense must always represent a leap in the dark,
into the poet's mind. The leap is justified by the illumination shed on the
way in which Homeric language is organized and functions. The formular
link, which may be strong or weak, between words may arise by mere force
of repetition or by the convenience or serendipity of the expression, or it
may be acquired by the apprentice poet as an already existing unit of
speech.
This conclusion introduces a diachronic dimension into the nature of
Homeric diction, If formulas existed as such for, it may be, many generations
before Homer, then a formula has a history. The phrase is repeated
and becomes a formula because it is useful and also because it is at the time
an effective expression. But the ability of successive &01S01 to adapt such
formulas to the insensible evolution of language and a fortiori to changes in
the basic dialect of their art was limited: formulas could become unmetrical,
unintelligible, or merely mechanical associations of words - cliches in the
strict sense. Inertia is the principal reason for keeping such expressions,
though in moderation 'glosses' (unintelligible words) may add a 'heroic'
colour to the diction: her epithet SaaTrA-qTis adds a special kind of terror to
the 'Epivus. At a given time, therefore, e.g. when the Iliad was composed,
'formulas' - if that is the right word - at every stage of their history from
the first tentative repetition of a pleasing word-group to the mechanical
reproduction of an unintelligible gloss will be found. We are fortunate if we
can suggest the stages reached and the processes involved.
(i) Hapax legomena
A true hapax legomenon seems to present a special problem for those who
believe that the techniques of composition used in the Homeric poems are
mainly those of oral poetry. The techniques of oral poetry are generic and
formular, the hapax legomenon by definition is not. It may not even bear any
relation of sound, sense, or form to the formular part of the diction, and it
would be gratuitous and implausible to claim that more than a handful
make their sole appearances by chance. On the contrary, hapax legomena,