Homer’s epics record a song rather than being pure spontaneity

Evidence

So the original form of Homer’s work, though a far cry from a work of literature as we know it now, is not exactly a song, pure and simple, either. It may be more the record of a song, building, perhaps, over the poet’s entire lifetime —not spontaneity outright but what Marianne Moore would call “a simulacrum of spontaneity.” — Homer; Robert Fagles; Bernard Knox, The Odyssey, 4792

Categorization

• DEFINE: Offers a useful framing of the oral-vs-written debate: the work as ‘record of a song’ with ‘simulacrum of spontaneity.’
• XREF: connects to: Homeric epithets form a metrical system built for oral improvisation — Homer; Robert Fagles; Bernard Knox, The Odyssey, 33; Homeric formulas carry more contextual resonance than Parry claimed — Homer; Robert Fagles; Bernard Knox, The Odyssey, 4792; Homer’s poetry derives its speed and energy from oral performance — Homer; Robert Fagles; Bernard Knox, The Odyssey, 4791

Related

• Homer’s poetry derives its speed and energy from oral performance (similarity 0.89)
• Homeric formulas carry more contextual resonance than Parry claimed (similarity 0.84)
• Homeric epithets form a metrical system built for oral improvisation (similarity 0.84)
• Long oral tradition explains Homer’s anachronistic mixture of customs and dialects. (similarity 0.80)
• The Homeric epics were written down at some point by someone. (similarity 0.79)
• Oral bards improvised anew at each performance rather than reciting fixed texts (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Homer’s poetry derives its speed and energy from oral performance #expands (0.70) — Homer; Robert Fagles; Bernard Knox, The Odyssey, 4791