Chapters
1. Introducing Michael Psellos
1. Introducing Michael Psellos, Author of Encomion of His Excellency Symeon the Metaphrast and Discourse on the Miracle That Occurred in the Blachernae Church 1.1. The reader of this slender volume will encounter a figure of immense intellectual stature. Michael Psellos (1018–after 1077) combined the roles of… Read more
2. Introduction to the Encomion of His Excellency Symeon the Metaphrast
2. Introduction to the Encomion of His Excellency Symeon the Metaphrast: The Very Model of Scholarly Sainthood 2.1. “The literary commemoration of the saints is the last chapter of the works that confirm the Gospel message” (3.10:220-222). [1] In these few words,… Read more
3. Encomion of his Excellency Symeon the Metaphrast
3. Encomion of his Excellency Symeon the Metaphrast [1] 3.1. In proposing to praise Symeon, great in his conduct and in his discourse, [2] [and to praise] his reputation and his success, bright and widely proclaimed… Read more
4. The Theme, pp.69–98
Chapter 4. The Theme Formulas and groups of formulas, both large and small, serve only one purpose. They provide a means for telling a story in song and verse. The tale’s the thing. Anyone who reads through a collection of oral epic from any country is… Read more
5. Songs and the Song, pp.99–123
Chapter 5. Songs and the Song As long as one thought of the oral poet as a singer who carried in his head a song in more or less the exact form in which he had learned it from another singer, as long as one used for… Read more
6. Writing and Oral Tradition, pp.124–138
Chapter 6. Writing and Oral Tradition The art of narrative song was perfected, and I use the word advisedly, long before the advent of writing. It had no need of stylus or brush to become a complete artistic and literary medium. Even its geniuses were not straining… Read more
Part II. The Application7. Homer, pp.141–157
Chapter 7. Homer The practice of oral narrative poetry makes a certain form necessary; the way in which oral epic songs are composed and transmitted leaves its unmistakable mark on the songs. That mark is apparent in the formulas and in the themes. It… Read more
8. The Odyssey, pp.158–185
Chapter 8. The Odyssey In reading the Odyssey or the Iliad we are at a distinct disadvantage because we are reading isolated texts in a tradition. The comparison with other traditions shows us very clearly that songs are not isolated entities, but that they must be understood… Read more
9. The Iliad, pp.186–197
Chapter 9. The Iliad The essential pattern of the Iliad is the same as that of the Odyssey; they are both the story of an absence that causes havoc to the beloved of the absentee and of his return to set matters aright. [1]… Read more