Odyssey

Scholars now generally agree with the theory of the American scholar Milman Parry that the Iliad and Odyssey were composed by oral methods of composition rather than by means of writing. But one must hasten to add that the scale, scope, and the poetic genius of the Iliad and Odyssey raise them far above most other orally composed epics or sagas. And it is possible, as recent scholars have suggested that writing was used at some stage of their composition, though the basic technique was oral. "The essential feature of the oral composition of lengthy poems is that the poet constructs his verses largely from ready made verbal formulas (i.e., groups of two or more poetic words) which have been previously constructed by the poet himself or by some predecessor to fit various metrical positions in the line and to describe recurrent situations in the kind of narrative required. Thus a formula like "he then in answer addressed the godlike, patient Odysseus" can be used whenever the poet wan...