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The Poetics of Immanence in the American Mountain Märchen

Carl Lindahl Most who pause to commemorate the first half-century of The Singer of Tales will remember, vividly, how they first made its acquaintance. Fifty years since The Singer of Tales marks forty-four since I was introduced to Albert Lord, from the distance of the back row of a Harvard lecture hall where he orchestrated the appearances of other great scholars—Theodore Andersson, David Bynum, Charles W. Dunn, Einar Haugan, Thorkild… Read more

*1. The Parian Marble

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Appendix 1. Testimonia on the Kreophuleioi of Samos In Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus 4.4 we read how Lycurgus the Lawgiver acquired the Homeric poems from the descendants of Kreophylos in Samos and brought the poems back to the Spartans: ἐκεῖ δὲ καὶ τοῖς Ὁμήρου ποιήμασιν ἐντυχὼν πρῶτον, ὡς ἔοικε, παρὰ τοῖς ἐκγόνοις τοῖς Κρεοφύλου διατηρουμένοις, καὶ … ἐγράψατο προθύμως καὶ συνήγαγεν ὡς δεῦρο κομιῶν. ἦν γάρ τις ἤδη δόξα τῶν… Read more

#Works Cited

Works Cited Austin, J.L. 1955. How to Do Things with Words. Ed. J.O. Urmson and Marina Sbisà. 2nd ed. 1962. Cambridge, MA. Bowra, C.M. 1961. Greek Lyr ic Poetry From Alcman to Simonides. London. Burkert, Walter. 1979. Structure and History in Greek Mythology and Ritual. Berkeley, CA. Burkert, Walter. 1977. Greek Religion. Trans. John Raffan 1985. Cambridge, MA. Burnett, Anne Pippin. 1983. Three Archaic Poets: Archilochus, Alcaeus, Sappho. Cambridge, MA. Read more

#Chapter V: The Descent of the Goddess

Chapter V: The Descent of the Goddess The Apotheosis of Difference Ὣς ἔφασαν κοῦραι μεγάλου Διὸς ἀρτιέπειαι καί μοι σκῆπτρον ἔδον δάφνης ἐριθηλέος ὄζον δρέψασαι, θηητόν· ἐνέπνευσαν δέ μοι ἀυδὴν θέσπιν, ἵνα κλείοιμι τά τ᾽ ἐσσόμενα πρό τ᾽ ἐόντα… Hesiod, Theogony How is the poetic voice constituted? The question has vexed critics in one form or another from the time poetry became an accepted speech act. Having seen the differentiation… Read more

#Chapter IV: Epiphany

Chapter IV: Epiphany The difference enacted So in a voice, so in a shapelesse flameAngells affect us oft, and worshipped bee John Donne, Aire and Angells The epiphany of Aphrodite, like the rest of the poem, has received a variety of critical response. Page’s view is that it contains “much detail irrelevant to [Sappho’s] present theme,” [1] Burnett’s, which she declares to be different,… Read more

#Chapter III: Invocation and Entreaty

Chapter III: Invocation and Entreaty The Difference Appears O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger; donot punish me in your wrathFor your arrows have already pierced me;and your hand presses hard againstme. Psalm 38 Throw away thy rod, Throw away thy wrath; O my GodTake the gentle path. George Herbert, “Discipline” The prayer begins with an invocation of Aphrodite… Read more

#Chapter II: Performance and Prayer

Chapter II: Performance and Prayer The Role of Difference The surprise of otherness is that moment whena new form of ignorance is suddenly activated as an imperative. Barbara Johnson, A World of Difference Performative language, the subject of J. L. Austin’s How To Do Things With Words, appears prominently in the verb structure of the poem. The first verb of the poem is λίσσομαι, “I pray,” which resembles… Read more

#Chapter I: Previous Response

Chapter I: Previous Response The Critical Difference And it ends upNobody’s, there is nothing for any of usExcept that fearful vacillating around the centralQuestion that brings us closer,For better or for worse, for all this time. John Ashbery, Introduction Critical responses to the poem have varied widely. I survey here the most recent and informed readings in an effort to provide a starting point for my… Read more