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Emotional and Thematic Meanings in a Repeating Homeric Motif: A Case Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2018

Deborah Beck*
Affiliation:
University of Texas at Austin*

Abstract

The regularly occurring Homeric motif τρὶς μέν … τρὶς δέ shares key characteristics with both formulas and type scenes. Like a formula, it is a group of metrically localized words that refers regularly to the same idea. Like a type scene, it describes a series of discrete events that feature ‘repeated attempts to do something, often by two different characters’. This motif evokes the same basic theme in the narratives of both Homeric poems: a vigorous hero gains the sympathy of the audience in the course of repeated attempts, usually in vain, to surmount a powerful opposing force. As with many forms of narrative repetition in Homeric epic, most of the instances of the τρὶς μέν … τρὶς δέ motif display regular narrative patterns, and then a few key scenes elaborate on those patterns in order to create moments of outstanding poetic and emotional force. Highly developed examples of this motif make significant contributions to the aristeia of Patroclus in Iliad 16, the death of Hector in Iliad 22 and Telemachus’ attempt to string Odysseus’ bow in Odyssey 21.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 2018 

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Footnotes

*

[email protected]. I would like to thank Gregory Nagy and the wonderful staff at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, DC for the productive month I spent there writing the first draft of this article, on which Sheila Murnaghan and Deborah Roberts gave meticulous and probing feedback. Douglas Cairns and the anonymous readers at JHS further improved the paper, and audiences in Austin, Boulder, St Louis and Bryn Mawr asked many stimulating questions, especially my Muses from the local chapter of Eta Sigma Phi. This paper is dedicated to the memory of the late Robert Germany, whose warm and thoughtful enthusiasm for my ideas enriched not only the experience of delivering the paper at Bryn Mawr College, but every conversation I ever had with him.