The poetics of supplication
Subtitle: Homer's Iliad and Odyssey
By: Kevin Crotty.
Series: Myth and poetics
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 1994
Place of publication: Ithaca, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 240
Subjects: Homer -- Criticism and interpretation.; Epic poetry, Greek -- History and criticism.; Rites and ceremonies in literature.; Rites and ceremonies -- Greece.; Sympathy in literature.; Oral tradition -- Greece.; Grief in literature.; War in literature.
Description: In this penetrating and compelling reinterpretation of the Iliad and the Odyssey, Kevin Crotty explores the connection between the "poetic" nature of supplication on the one hand, and, on the other, the importance of supplication in the structure and poetics of the two epics. The suppliant's attempt to rouse pity by calling to mind a vivid sense of grief, he says, is important for an understanding of the poems, which invite their audience to contemplate scenes of past grieving.

A poetics of supplication, Crotty asserts, leads irresistibly to a poetics of the Homeric epic.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 217-225) and indexes.