Definitions and Theories of Epic Flashcards
Aristotle said epic poetry was a…
Representation of serious people which uses speech in verse
The Iliad and the Odyssey are part of the…
Trojan epic cycle
To epos means…
Word, utterance
Hē aoidē means…
Song
Hē oimē (aoidēs) means…
Path (of song)
The Unitarian view of Homeric epic is…
The belief that they were written by one author: Homer. Also called Homerists.
The analyst view of Homeric epic is…
The belief that they were written by multiple authors / compiled together
The orally-derived traditional poetry theory’s best known scholar is…
Milman Parry
Milman Parry discussed…
How the epic poems stemmed from traditional oral poetry, and one could tell by the formulaic epithets etc.
The traditional referentiality theory was described by…
J.M. Foley
J.M. Foley defined traditional referentiality as…
Referential meaning in writing as a pointer to tradition
Sēmata means…
Referential signs
J.M. Foley focuses on epithets as a form of traditional referentiality. These include…
Names with connotative meanings;
Astyanax = Lord of the citadel
Hektor = the keeper
Hector’s death foreshadows Astyanax’s death and also references the fall of Troy
J.M. Foley discusses foreshadowing in traditional referentiality, lines used for death include…
“Mightily in his might” describes a dead or dying person, also used to describe Patroklos ergo foreshadowing his death
In traditional referentiality there are instances of linguistic repetition, these include…
Swift-footed Achilleus Apollo the far-shooter son of Atreus The white-armed goddess (Formulaic epithet and reminder of character)
