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Homeric Epics: A Formula for Genius

For centuries the Homeric question has plagued mankind. Who was he? How did he conjure up such poems with out the aid of writing? Were the poems his own or a combination of poems he put together? What type of authorship do we owe Homer? Milman Parry has given us a grounding to help us better understand Homer and his poems. One may come to the conclusion that Parry’s Theory of Oral Composition is likely to be the methodology used in creating the Homeric Epic’s and other oral poems after a study of the progression of thought on the subject by scholarly classicists and a analysis of Homer’s Iliad in conjunction with the formulaic system.
Milman Parry laid the foundation of the oral theory in his 1923 thesis at the University of California at Berkeley. In this opening paragraph, he also relates that the poems are a product of time and tradition.

Jus as the story of the Fall of Troy, the tale of the House of Labdakos, and the......

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Approximate Word Count: 2501
Approximate Pages: 11 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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