Untitled - Get a Free Blog

Formulas
constructed; their context, battle, is the staple of the Iliad. The odd thing is
that they recur after a short interval and do not recur again. Clustering -
of verses, formulas, single words - is one of the phenomena of Homeric
diction that neither Parry's model of formular composition nor its offshoots
explain.
The obvious explanation is psychological; what the singer has sung remains
for some time near the surface of his mind. (A curious echo over
ninety lines occurs at 13.564 cos TE OKGOAOS ... M yccfris and 13.654 cos TE
cTKcbArj^ 67Ti yaiT).) This is easily understood at the thematic level and may
be illustrated by the iterated woundings and assaults of books 11 and 12.
The repeated verses and runs are not much different, and clustering is
apparent also at the level of the phrase (where the first instance may be
taken as the product of phrase pattern or substitution): VUKTCCS TCCVOV (9.325,
470 only), 6iv €vi 6i9pcp EOVTE (etc.) 11.103, 11.127; and 5.160, 5.609), TTTTTTE
K&priva (11.158 and 11.500), OTTOC! 8E TE KOUTTOS 686VTCOV (11.417, 12.149),
EUTJS (Gofjs) ooro X £l P°S CXKOVTI (11.675, 12.306). Most striking, however, is
clustering in the use of the formular stock: UEyon