>show don't tell >brave Achilles >resourceful Odysseus

>>8916121
>he started with the greeks
you should've started with freud

>>8916121
You can tell if you also show.

Achilles does brave things
Odysseus does resourceful things
You can tell if you also show, you can't just tell

Pomes don't count

>>8916121
Homer is a meme you dip

File: 1389496785147.jpg (114KB, 323x454px) Image search: [Google]

114KB, 323x454px

>>8916128
>the wise but unlucky Odysseus

He has to tell us, as if we couldn't figure it out on our own.

>>8916148
A lot of Homeric epics are structured to help the teller remember the tale, you have to keep in mind these poems were written to memorize and perform in inns and courts. A lot of the >lmao repetition or >lmao dumb character descriptions is so the guy who has to perform it from memory will be able to remember it

>>8916158
That and the meter needs it sometimes

>>8916158
>>8916208
Even moreso, it builds recognition and anticipation in the listener.
And moreover, I find the Homeric epithets lovely, both as they keep the man and not just the name in mind, and in themselves, as beautiful-sounding.

Homer was blind, OP.

>>8916234
This
The epithets are beautiful and elegant, sounds like a poet telling a tale of a real, amazing hero, not just some book

Because the epithets were used as "filler" to fit the meter.

>Relation to hexameter: words/formulas tend to have particular positions to properly fill the meter.

>the systems of name and epithet formulas are characterised by extension (all or almost all needed formulas are found) and thrift (there is rarely more than one metrically equivalent formula for a particular name). The system is efficient and economical.

>Some recent accounts of Homeric composition attempt to define the formula by function, rather than structure, or even to bypass the formula entirely. According to one such model, the words in a line are positioned within the metrical scheme of the hexameter through a sort of hierarchy of selection: the most important elements find their place in the line first, and then other elements needed to complete the meaning of the line are chosen to fit the metrical positions not yet filled.

>Meaning of the epithets: often meaningless in that particular context, other times even misapplied. Various explanations, including simply having to use a word to fit the meter ("ornamental" epithets). Parry resolved the issue by basically saying all epithets are ornamental, but obviously you lose a lot by taking that position. Some want to save the literary interpretation by arguing the importance of formulas is exaggerated.

OP, and anyone concerned, read this essay:

http://www.westmont.edu/~fisk/Articles/OdysseusScar.html