epic formula

epic formula, convention of language and theme peculiar to oral epic poetry that is often carried over to the written form. The most obvious epic formulas are the “fixed epithets,” stereotyped descriptive phrases that can be varied in different places in the poetic line to suit the demands of the metre. These stock expressions have the twofold function of lightening the oral poet’s task in telling the story and making it easier for the audience to follow him. In the Homeric poems, Achilles is “fleet-footed” whether he is sitting, standing, or sleeping. Odysseus is “wily,” dawn is “rosy-fingered,” and the heroes exchange “winged words.” Homer uses numerous less striking formulas to describe everyday activities: for example, a meal usually ends “when they had put aside desire for food and drink.” To a great extent formulas are distinctive features of an epic. There are formulas for going to bed and getting up, putting on and taking off armour, sacrificing and feasting, and launching and beaching ships. The effect of familiarity is often enhanced by direct repetition, as when a messenger repeats his instructions verbatim.

Because written epics are a later development of the genre, they all bear some trace of the underlying oral stamp. In literary epics, however, the formulas have lost their special function as mnemonic adjuncts to the oral poet’s story-telling. They are employed rather for their archaic charm and heroic connotations.