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Chapter 2 - Meter

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2024

Chiara Bozzone
Affiliation:
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munchen
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Summary

This chapter covers the general features of the Homeric hexameter and the most famous debates therein, before asking the more general question as to what was the usefulness of meter for oral-traditional poets. Section 1 introduces the metrical scheme of the hexameter (including incisions and bridges), the principles of scansion and syllabification. Section 2 explores the colometry of the hexameter, and introduces the prosodic hierarchy. It also employs intonational data to argue tha the Homeric hexameter coincided with an intonational phrase, and its cola mostly with phonological phrases, and provides a new prosodic account of enjambement in Homer. Section 3 covers previous attempt at establishing the historical origin of the hexameter, arguing that the account of Kiparsky 2018 is the most promising. Section 4 looks at the speech of professional sportscasters, and argues that it shows several types of prosodic regularization that is akin to a basic type of meter. Extensive prosodic regularization diminishes the options available to a speaker, making it easier to sustain high levels of fluency. Meter arguably fulfilled a similar task in oral-traditional composition in performance.

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Chapter
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Homer's Living Language
Formularity, Dialect, and Creativity in Oral-Traditional Poetry
, pp. 64 - 129
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • Meter
  • Chiara Bozzone, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munchen
  • Book: Homer's Living Language
  • Online publication: 11 April 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009067157.003
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  • Meter
  • Chiara Bozzone, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munchen
  • Book: Homer's Living Language
  • Online publication: 11 April 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009067157.003
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Meter
  • Chiara Bozzone, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munchen
  • Book: Homer's Living Language
  • Online publication: 11 April 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009067157.003
Available formats
×