The Homeric Poems: Oral Or Written Tradition Essay, Research Paper

The Homeric Poems: Oral or Written Tradition

Homer. A name synonomous with Grecian literature and poesy. Some call him the most celebrated and greatest poet of the Grecian society. Known for his & # 8220 ; chef-d’oeuvres & # 8221 ; of western literature the Iliad and the Odyssey, Homer & # 8217 ; s verse forms have been passed down through coevalss and studied by many. But how did the interlingual renditions, if they are, infact, the true Homeric verse form, acquire to where they are today? Dating as far back as 1120 B.c. , the verse form may hold gone through a dramatic figure of alterations from their original signifier. Probably the most of import factor in all of this is how they were passed down through the centuries. Scholars of today disagree on the inquiry of whether the Homeric verse forms were passed down through an unwritten or written tradition.

In order to mover farther into the topic, one must hold an apprehension of what an unwritten tradition is opposed to a written tradition. An unwritten tradition is one of which we know from our remembered cognition ( Kirdk 199 ) . In this instance, the relation of the verse form from one coevals to the following orally would be an unwritten tradition. A written tradition is one in which cognition is recorded in some manner form or signifier of authorship, and passed down that manner.

Many citizens of early Grecian civilization possessed really limited literacy. Even at the extremum of Grecian society, the ability to read and compose was far fom cosmopolitan, and the utilizations made of that ability, by many who possessed it, were circumscribed ( Kirk 1 ) . Most slaves were illiterate, but so were many free-born citizens. Although there were those who could read and compose, their ability to understand in-depth stuff was limited. Therefore many had to trust on unwritten poesy and viva-voce tradition.

Not much clip passesd when unwritten tradition began to worsen, due to the handiness of new composing techniques. These techniques enabled the great verse forms to be created out of traditional and preliterate stuff. But it is surely a job of how and why the normal scope of unwritten narrative verse form was so all of a sudden and brightly transcended. This states that there must hold been a to the full literate civilization, and a steady supply of books. But this was non the instance.

It is possible, on the other manus, that some lesser usage of the new technique of authorship was the detemining factor in the ability to compose such long and complex verse forms out of pre-existing and much shorter unwritten vocals. Many critics do non accept this nevertheless. The immense spread in quality every bit good as measure being the chief factor.

In kernel, the verse forms belong to an unwritten civilization, whether or non their monumental signifier owes something to the chief poet & # 8217 ; s ability to compose witht he help of authorship ( Kirk 2 ) . These verse forms were to some extent transcribed orally excessively ; these were plants that continued to be knows, unpredictably and incompletely possibly & # 8220 ; by bosom & # 8221 ; . Once they were produced, the verse forms had a sultry consequence on their simpler, more typically unwritten predecessors. The memory of earlier vocals and verse forms were all but obliterated. Among those that contributed to this were the Iliad and the Odyssey. If this was so, so their visual aspect before the interlingual rendition from an age of Li

teracy to one of partial literacy seems less unusual. Teh polis, or city state, emerged as the chief focal point of truenesss that had earlier been directed toward individuals and households, toward feudal originals that still reflected some of the freshness of the epic universe of Homer ( Kirk 3 ) .

Emphasis on the unwritten nature of the Iliad and the Odyssey must be present for the apprehension of the verse forms as poesy, as plants of literature in the broader sense, and as huge and fickle forces in the cultural history of the ancient universe.

The linguistic communication of Homer was ne’er spoken by any adult male ( Kirk 4 ) . It is an artifical, poetical building of wording and vocabulary taht originated at different day of the months over a period of at least 200 and possibly every bit much as 500 old ages ( Kirk 4 ) . Some parts of it are extremely conventional and consist of fixed or formular phrases. Precicely how far the formular system extended, and wher eit merges with the symbolic and insistent facet of all linguistic communication remains a inquiry ; but the demand for literate poesy of any lenght to be formular in kernel is confirmed by the survey both of Homer himself and of lasting unwritten traditions. The least complex of these traditions and the poorest in look are besides the least formular ( Kirk 5 ) . This confirms that formularity increases the powers of the unwritten vocalist. This reverses a basic regulation of classical literature creation-that the repeated usage of fixed or conventional linguistic communication is incompatible with true originality and poetical or literary power. In this regard, the unwritten poet behaves rather otherwise from teh literate one, and makes his ain single part above and beyond the degree of traditional ways.

The enunciation of Homer was antediluvian and yet invariably renewed, and that histories for the being side by side of footings and lingual signifiers from the Mycenaean idiom of the Achaean heroes, from teh modern-day universe of Homer himself and from many anon. coevalss between. Kirk believes that the amplification and careful placing of many of the undeveloped similies must be due to the monumental comoser himself, and can non be a random process inserted along the line.

The facts of the unwritten tradition and the particular statement from teh similies have shown that the opportunities of obtaining consistant and accurate information, with small of import intervention from ulterior coevalss are extremely distant.

Many of the narrative constituents, the motives and subjects of the Homeric verse forms are no less formular than their linguistic communication and wording. The vocalist acquires a broad scope of standard incidents that can be varied in length and mention to accommodate the demands of a chosen state of affairs. The Homeric verse forms were poetic vocals that contained all these elements that have been discussed. Some societies taht are, or were illiterate at one point or another, had no books or Hagiographas, and therefore used unwritten tradition to state the narratives. Somwhere along the manner, a individual might hold written the verse form down to go through on to other coevalss. Any manner you look at it, the Homeric verse forms have undertaken both types of tradition throughout the class of clip.

Work Cited

1. Kirk, G.S. Homer and the Oral Tradition. Great Britain: Cambridge University Press, 1976