Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

Cora Angier. "Verbal Patterns in Hesiod's Theogony." Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 68:329-44.

Studies various kinds of repetition as characteristic of orally composed poetry: key words, syntactic patterns, assonantal patterns, repeated or formulaic lines, etymologies, and type-scenes. Providing numerous examples within the Theogony and discussing their role, she concludes that "the repetition which is a feature of this [oral traditional] technique can also serve as an organizing device, to mark divisions of the narrative and remind the audience of the point of departure for an episode, and also to emphasize certain key ideas, and in this way also impart unity to the composition" (343).
Area: AG