Proemic convention and character construction in early Greek epic

S Harden, A Kelly - Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 2013 - JSTOR
S Harden, A Kelly
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 2013JSTOR
This article argues for the existence of structural conventions surrounding the opening of
Greek epic poetry in the Archaic period, and for the poetic manipulation of those conventions
within the narratives of the Odyssey (§ I) and the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (§ II). Neither of
these two contentions is entirely novel or particularly dangerous, but neither of the two
examples under examination in this article has been so analyzed. We hope to demonstrate
that the poets utilize their audience's understanding of these conventions in order to …
This article argues for the existence of structural conventions surrounding the opening of Greek epic poetry in the Archaic period, and for the poetic manipulation of those conventions within the narratives of the Odyssey (§ I) and the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (§ II). Neither of these two contentions is entirely novel or particularly dangerous, but neither of the two examples under examination in this article has been so analyzed. We hope to demonstrate that the poets utilize their audience's understanding of these conventions in order to comment upon the authority and narratives of their central char acters, Odysseus and Hermes. They do this by allowing these figures to generate their own" proems" to text-internal songs, so as to say interesting things about the course of that narrative and the charac ter's ability to control or affect it. The interpretation of these episodes, then, draws upon the poet's reflection to create a complex relationship between his audience (s), himself and his characters. In separating the following study as we have done, we advance two related but distinct ways of opening an hexameter poem in the Archaic
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