Formulas for Heroes in the "Iliad" and in "Beowulf"Author(s): William WhallonSource: Modern Philology, Vol. 63, No. 2 (Nov., 1965), pp. 95-104Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/435709Accessed: 18/01/2010 10:04

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Modern Philology

FORMULAS FOR HEROES IN THE ILIAD AND IN BEOWULF

WILLIAM WHALLON

TOUGH-MINDED analysis of formulaic poetry began with the Homeric studies of Milman Parry,l which are

now being continued in a series of strong papers by James A. Notopoulos.2 Among the extensions of the Parry theory to other narrative traditions, a chapter from the book by Jean Rychner on Old French epic is of exceptional elegance.3 Albert B. Lord discusses the formulas in Yugoslav song from our own century and also appears responsible,4 together with Francis P. Magoun, Jr.,5 for the thesis that the re- peated elements in Beowulf were likewise conventional phrases used without reflec- tion. A number of scholars have recently gone much further: Robert E. Diamond shows how some of the Old English formulas-such as halig drihten, ece dri- hten, and mihtig drihten-were at length

1 L'Epithete traditionnelle dans Homere (Paris, 1928); "Studies in the Epic Technique of Oral Verse-Making, I, Homer and Homeric Style," Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, XLI (1930), 134-47.

2 One of the latest being "Studies in Early Greek Oral Poetry," Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, LXVIII (1964), 1-77.

3 La Chanson de geste (Geneva, 1955), pp. 126-53. 4 The chart on p. 199 of his book The Singer of Tales

(Cambridge, Mass., 1960) is taken from p. 201 of his 1949 Harvard dissertation.

5"Oral-Formulaic Character of Anglo-Saxon Narrative Poetry," Speculum, XXVIII (1953), 446-67. The definitive work on the Old English formulas is said to be the 1956 Harvard dissertation of Robert P. Creed.

applied to the literary task of translation; 6

Robert L. Kellogg shows that the formular status of a phrase is to be determined from the entire corpus of Old Germanic verse;7 and Frederic G. Cassidy shows that half- lines are profitably classified not only by meter and formula but by syntax as well.8 The high degree of economy in the Homeric epic diction was emphasized by Parry as a fact crucial to his argument, and

6 The Diction of the Anglo-Saxon Metrical Psalms (The Hague, 1963), on Psalms 52:3, 65:1, and 91:5. It follows that a work containing formulas need not be an oral composition; the formulas merely indicate that an oral tradition lay some- where in the past. Tryphiodorus cannot have been an un- lettered bard even though his phrase NEO'TTToAE.oS OeoeLIS5s (1. 153) is certainly Homeric: see my list below.

7 "The South Germanic Oral Tradition," in Franciplegius, ed. Jess B. Bessinger, Jr., and Robert P. Creed (New York University Press, 1965), pp. 66-74. The high proportion of compounds in Beowulfhas been taken as a mark of originality, especially since many of them do not occur elsewhere in Old English poetry: see Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur, The Art of Beowulf (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1959), pp. 6-7, in agreement with Frederick Klaeber (ed.), Beowulf (3rd ed., Boston, 1941), p. xliii. Kellogg dissents from this argument by observing that some of the allegedly original Beowulf compounds have exact cognates in Old Norse poetry.

The originality of an Old Germanic poet might possibly be estimated by seeing what phrases he used instead of those most common in his own dialect or in the alliterative tradition as a whole. To consider only the Homeric phrases listed below, Quintus of Smyrna replaced repsveos is7T6Ta Neioswp (and Asyts HvA(iwv dyOp71TSS) with TreplQpuw NrlAos v6ds (iii. 525), and (rrpoaoeLie) dvcra dv8pcv 'Ayapgrc4wev with (jrposeat-nev) lvcUsCeAUTjs 'Ayat4wpvCwv (v.427, ix.490).

8"How Free was the Anglo-Saxon Scop?" in Franci- plegius (cited in n. 7), pp. 75-85. A comparison of the syn- tactic patterns in Beowulf and the Elegies isolates one un- expected difference between them: half-lines in which both the accents fall on a single noun are a good deal more common in the epic. This is evidence in favor of the contention (see n. 7) that the proportion of compounds in Beowulf may be unusual.

[Modern Philology, November, 1965]

NOVEMBER 1965

VOLUME LXIII

NUMBER 2

95

WILLIAM WHALLON

in the September, 1961, issue of PMLA I gave reasons for doubting whether the same economy was to be found in Beowulf. This conclusion now seems to me at fault for its failure to observe that, while the formulaic epithets for the heroes of the Iliad are true to individual character but in- differently appropriate to context, the for- mulaic kennings for the heroes of Beowulf are true to generic character but signifi- cantly appropriate to context. Verse created not so much of single words as of more massive stereotypes is unable to describe a man with precision: either he will be the same in many different situations or he will be like other men in similar situations. The Homeric idiom follows the former alternative, as is agreed by every Hellenist who considers the matter; the idiom of Beowulf follows the latter, as this paper decides from a comparative survey of the evidence.

Two categories of formulas, one from the Iliad and the other from Beowulf, are set alongside each other as a basis for dis- cussion. Other kinds of formulas are contained by the two epics, but none more impressive for size and frequency of recur- rence. Each of the Homeric formulas in the study begins with a consonant, fills the last three and one-quarter feet of the line, and is found at least once in the nomi- native; each contains an epithetic augment occurring at least twice in phrases of this length and combining at least once with the proper name of a heroic figure such as Agamemnon or Nestor. Each of the formulas from Beowulf is a half-line kenning that occurs at least twice and re- fers at least once to a heroic figure such as Hrothgar or Wiglaf. The category of Homeric formulas is by far the more re- strictive, since it answers to the formulas of Beowulf that begin with one given letter of alliteration, but the larger number of half-lines is needed to make the com-

pilation substantial. AhAo c\xb s el EL5Wus

is not included because its epithet does not recur in the Iliad; helm Scylfinga is not included because it does not in its entirety recur in Beowulf; both phrases are commonplace, but neither has the prime quality of a formula.

Formulas from the Iliad.-I, Of names that begin with a vowel and fill the last foot: xeyaS Kopv6aoAos "EKrPp, "great helm-flashing Hector" (12 times); deyas TeAatLoVLos AiCas, "great Telamonian Ajax" (12 times). II, Of names that begin with a consonant and fill the last foot: rfEprvLos 7TIOTca NerrwTp, "Gerenian horseman Nestor" (24 times); yEpwv lTr7T7AcTa H7qAEvs, "old-man horse-driver Peleus" (3 times); yppwv r7A7TcXra 0omLv, "old-man horse-driver Phoenix" (3 times); y'pwv i7- 7JACCra Olvvs, "old-man horse-driver Oeneus" (1 time). III, Of names that begin with a vowel and fill the last one and one-quarter feet: 7TO8apKYS SZos 'AXLAAevs, "swift-footed excellent Achilles" (21 times); 7roAvrAas blos '03vLTE?vs, "much-enduring excellent Odys- seus" (5 times). IV, Of names that begin with a vowel and fill the last one and one-half feet: avac &vcpJv 'AyapE4LVwV (4Jevvov), "king-of- men Agamemnon" (44 times); ava4 &v%pJv

'AyX&ar], "king-of-men Anchises" (1 time); ava4 &v5pJv Alve&as, "king-of-men Aeneas"

(1 time); diva4 dv8p6)v Av1yelas, "king-of-men Augeas" (1 time); avoc dvSpc)v 'EvXr1r], "king-of-men Euphetes" (1 time); dvad &vbpJv 'EvM4Aos, "king-of-men Eumelus" (1 time). V, Of names that begin with a consonant and fill the last one and one-half feet: ,or7V &yaxo^A Lo,iJ3r7s, "good-at-the-cry Diomedes" (21 times); f7Voov &yaoos (v) MeveAaos (v), "good-at-the-cry Menelaus" (16 times); JLEVE- 7TTOAEVOS TIoAviro5-rs, "staunch-in-war Poly- poetes" (4 times); LeveTr-o'AELos- @paav rbrjs "staunch-in-war Thrasymedes" (1 time); JLEVE- 7TTo-5A os InoAvfx6vrrs, "staunch-in-war Poly- phontes" (1 time). VI, Of names that consist of a short followed by a long syllable: Ao'A6v Ev3JdyEos vios, "Dolon Eumedes' son" (3 times); do'a? 'Avbpa4tovos vlsO, "Thoas Andraemon's son" (2 times). VII, Of names that begin with a consonant and consist of a

96

FORMULAS FOR HEROES IN THE ( ILIAD" AND IN " BEOWULF 9

short syllable followed by a complete foot: AEOVTEVS O6OS "Aprqos, "Leonteus, scion of Ares" (3 times); IosaPpKrs o64os "Aprjos, "Podarces, scion of Ares" (1 time). VIII, Of names that combine with a following epithet of one and one-half feet: yepwv Hpta/los OEOEi7rjs, "old-man Priam godlike" (7 times); NEo7TTToJAEIos OEoetS7rs, "Neoptolemus god- like" (1 time); HoXAvELvos 6EOEL7S's, "Poly- xenus godlike" (1 time).

Although a remark of A. E. Housman about Horace cannot be applied to the

poet of the Iliad, who was not "as sensitive to iteration as any modern," the formula tLyycas TeAa/CIjVLO s AL'as never occurs when it would be preceded by the name A'as in the same line, but is then replaced by the formula rneAcptos ipKos 'AxaLcv; for the sake of convenience such ancillary phrases are omitted from the list. Periphrases for Patroclus and the other heroes whose names do not fit easily into the last three and one-quarter feet are also omitted, for to include Mevo-rLov AKLckLoS v?OS but not 7TE?ApLos EpKOS 'AXaLJv would be in- vidious and would not modify the con- clusions at all. The list also does not take account of phrases that include a ?' or '

or other particle. The men represented by the formulas are few for good reason: the numerous minor figures of the epic seldom become the subjects of their clauses; they are far more often the slain than the slayers. With two exceptions none of the listed formulas recurs slightly altered in the oblique cases or the vocative; both the names and the epithets tend to change in meter with a change of case. The digamma at the beginning of 'vac &v'pcov and O'veVs is not printed but is observed by the scansion.

Formulas from Beowulf.-Beowulf Geata (676a, 1191 a), beam Ecgpeowes (10 times), byre Wihstanes (Wiglaf 2907b, 3110b), beaga bryttan (Scyld 35a, Hrothgar 352a, 1487a), brego Beorhtdena (Hrothgar 427a, 609a),

bearn Healfdenes (Heregar 469a, Hrothgar 1020b), Deniga frean (Hrothgar 271a, 359a, 1680b), dryhten Geata (Beowulf 2402a, 2901a), freo(a)wine folca (Hrothgar 430a, Hygelac 2357a, Hrethel 2429a), fepecempa (Beowulf 1544a, Wiglaf 2853a), folces hyrde (Hrothgar 610a, Hygelac 1832a, 1849a, Beowulf 2644b, Ongentheow 2981 a), frean Scyldinga (Hroth- gar 291a, 351a, 500b), goldwine Geata (Beowulf 2419a, 2584a), goldwine gumena (Hrothgar 1171a, 1476a, 1602a), Geata dryhten (ne) (Hygelac 1484b, 1831a, 2991b, Haethcyn 2483a, Beowulf 2560b, 2576a), geongum garwigan (Wiglaf 2674a, 281 la), gomela Scylfing (Ongentheow 2487b, 2968a), gamela Scylding (Hrothgar 1792a, 2105b), geongum (an) cempan (Offa 1948b, indefinite 2044b, Wiglaf 2626a), helm Scyldinga (Hrothgar 371b, 456b, 1321b), hilderinces (e, a) (Grendel 986b,; Beowulf 1495a, 1576a, plural 3124a), har hilderinc (Hrothgar 1307a, Beowulf, 3136a), hele hildedeor (Beowulf 1646a, 1816a, Wiglaf 3111 a), hordweard haelet'a (Hrothgar 1047a, Beowulf later 1852a), Higelaces legn (Beowulf 194b, 1574b, Eofor 2977b), Hem- minges maeg (Offa 1944b, 1961b), Hreples eaferan (a) (Hygelac 1847b, 2358a, 2992a), leofes (ne, ra) mannes (an, a) (Beowulf 297b, 1994a, 2897a, 3108a, plural 1915b, indefinite 1943b, Hondscio 2Q80a, Aeschere 2127a), leofne peoden (Scyld 34b, Beowulf 3079b), leod Scyldinga (Hrothgar 1653a, Heregar 2159a), msere (es, um, ne) p^eoden (nes, ne) (Hrothgar 129b, 201a, 345a, 1046b, 1598a, 1992a, Beowulf 797a, 2572a, 2788b, 3141b, Heremod 1715a, Onela 2384a), maga (o) Healfdenes (Hrothgar 5 times), maeg Higelaces (Beowulf 5 times), rices hyrde (Ingeld 2027a, Beowulf 3080a), sigoreadig secg (Beowulf 131 la, Beowulf earlier 2352a), sunu Ecgpeo- wes (Beowulf 1550b, 2367b, 2398b), snottra fengel (Hrothgar 1475a, 2156a), secg (as) on searwum (Beowulf 249a, plural 2530a, Wiglaf 2700a), sunu Healfdenes (Hrothgar 7 times), sunu (a) Ohteres (Eadgils and Eanmund 2380b, Eadgils 2394b, Eanmund 2612a), sunu Ecglafes (Unferth 590b, 98Gb, 1808a), sinces brytta (n) (Hrothgar 607b, 1170a, Hygelac 1922b, 207 la), sunu Wihstanes (Wiglaf 2752b, 3120b), peodcyninges (a) (plural 2a, Beowulf

97

2694b), peoden (nas) maerne (e) (Hrothgar 353a, Beowulf 2721a, plural 3070a), peoden Scyldinga (Hrothgar 1675a, 1871a), Wedra peoden (nes) (Beowulf 2336a, 2656a, 2786b, 3037a), Wedergeata leod (Beowulf 1492b, 1612b, 2551a), wigendra hleo (Hrothgar 4296, Sigemund 8996, Beowulf 1972b, 23376), wine (um) Scyldinga (Scyld 30b, Hrothgar 148a, 170b, 1183a, 2101b, plural 1418a, Ingeld 2026b), Weohstanes sunu (Wiglaf 2602b, 28626, 3076b), aepeling aergod (Hrothgar 130a, Aeschere 1329a, Beowulf 2342a), eorla drihten (Hrothgar 1050b, Beowulf 23386), eald e)pel- weard (indefinite 1702a, Beowulf 221 0a), eodor Scyldinga (Hrothgar 428a, 663a), aepelinges (a) beam (Sigemund 888a, plural 1408b, 2597a, 3170a).

This list contains only substantives. It does not include adjectival phrases such as heard under helme, or phrases com- posed of an adjective and a definite article, such as pone selestan, or relative clauses, such as pe us beagas geaf-although ex- pressions of these three kinds often supplement a kenning exactly as another kenning does. The list also omits phrases like leofa Beowulf that occur only in the vocative. Most of the half-lines in the list are found at least once in the nominative singular, but change of grammatical case often causes no thoroughgoing change in a formula. Except for the omission of certain variants in spelling, the Beowulf and Judith edition of Elliott V. K. Dobbie (New York, 1953) is followed throughout: part of my discussion depends upon his textual notes justifying xepeling xergod in 1329a, fekecempa in 1544a, and bar hilderinc in 3136a.

The epithets and kennings stress many of the same qualities and are even likely to be rough translations of each other: EvMr5sEos vtos and byre Wihstanes speak of a man's father, Fep74vLos and eodor Scyldinga speak of his nation, divc4

&vApJv and freawine fo/ca of his kingship, Kopv&aLoAos and secg on searwum of his

armor, ro&LpK7os and fekecempa of his

fighting afoot, y'pwcv and har hilderinc of his old age. The formulas also distinguish between the two Ajaxes and between the two Beowulfs, though as a rule they are handsome but circumlocutory and tend to embellish rather than clarify the epic matter. They point with exceptional sharpness to the corpora they dominate, for "much-enduring excellent Odysseus" does not appear in the Philoctetes of Sophocles, nor any "hoard-warden of heroes" in the prose of the Anglo-Saxon chronicle.

It is evident that men may be described with the same epithet almost solely when their names are identical in metrical shape. Agamemnon shares avc4 &v6pJv with five minor figures who do not resemble him except in having names that scan like his; neither Hector nor any other major figure can be a further 'vco4 &vbpJ&v without a flaw in the dactylic rhythm. It follows that

Agamemnon appears avaf &v5pJv, "king of men," in contrast with Hector, Nestor, or Achilles, and is the dominant or memorable Jvct &v6pwv in the epic as a

whole. A similar conclusion can be drawn almost at will. Thus the epithet KpEIWV,

"ruling," combines with names to create

phrases two and one-half feet in length: KpELWV 'A7yace1Vwv (29 times); KpElv

'Evocxi0ov, i.e., Poseidon (5 times); Kpd'wv

'Ayarurvwp (1 time); KpEWV (EALK&WV (1

time); KpEtWV 'EAcErrvuwp (1 time); KpELWV

'EvtJuAos (1 time). No man besides

Agamemnon is both significant in the Iliad and 3avac cvipuS)v or KpE6wv, a fact that derives from the low frequency with which the major figures have names equivalent in meter. If every Homeric name were of one standard size-if the great heroes were Agrius, Aeacus, Aenius, Alcimus, Anti-

phus, Asius, Ennomus, Eurutus, lasus, Imbrion, Hippasus, Iphiclus, Ormenus, Hurtacus, and Hurtius-the epithets used

98 WILLIAM WHALLON

FORMULAS FOR HEROES IN THE " ILIAD " AND IN " BEOWULF "

to meet a given prosodic need would also be of a size, and the choice among them could then depend chiefly upon meaning. So does in fact depend the choice among the kennings of Beowulf; for any half-line is obviously equivalent to any other of the same alliteration; the nature of the name replaced by the half-line cannot matter in the least. Agamemnon shares ocvaf &vspjv with Augeas largely for metrical reasons; Hrothgar and Hygelac share sinces brytta for semantic reasons alone. Men in the Iliad are almost always described differently if their names do not supply the same seg- ment of the hexameter line; men in Beowulf are described differently when of dissimilar rank, nation, or ancestry. Neither epic speaks of heroes that are all unfailingly alike, but separates them, first of all, into certain classes. How far the classes are subdivided is the essential problem.

It is a basic truth that certain men whose names are equivalent in meter do not receive the same epithets. Not only are Achilles -ro&dpKrS and Odysseus 7roAvrAas in formulas of three and one-quarter feet, in those of two and one-half feet they are 7Tro'as5 cKVS 'AXtAAEv's (29 times) and iroA4vvTtp 'O3vauev'se (14 times), and in

vocative formulas the one is OEoEIKeA'

'AXtAAev^ (2 times) and the other 7roAvj4Xxav'

'O)vcT?v (7 times). The epithets in these phrases are never divided between Achilles and Odysseus, nor are they ever shared in any form with any other man in the Iliad. In formulas interchangeable with i^aO8pKXS

8lo& 'AXLAev&s, Hector and Ajax are y'yas

KopVOaoXAoS "EKTWP and 1eyas TeAaM6covLo

A'iass; in those interchangeable with jrO5as

WKVS 'AXLAAevLs, they are KopvGaioAos

"EKTI-P (25 times) and TeAa(cJtvLos A'ias (9 times); KopvOaxoAos is shared with no man, only with the god Ares (1 time), while the patronymic TeAatLvLos is reason- ably enough shared only with Teucer (3

times). It is true that Achilles and Odysseus share 3tos, while Hector and Ajax share dyeas and (elsewhere) bacdjIos, but it is

also true that Diomedes and Menelaus, who share fBor?v dyaoos in formulas of one length, are distinguished from each other, and from most other men as well, by the formulas of another length: KparEpOS

atOJj177S (19 times), KpaTEpoS aL)pr'S (1

time), Kparepos AvKOopyos (1 time), KpaCEpOS AVKOpJJ8S- (1 time), KpaTEpoS

IoAv7rTolrrs (1 time), xav6os Meve'aQos (13 times), favOos MeACaypos (1 time). A

tendency toward distinctive description can in fact be seen throughout: XaAKo- KOpVUaT7L (rV), a dative-and-accusative synonym for KopvGaloAos, is used eight times for Hector and only once else; 7fro8&KEos (i, a), a genitive-dative-and- accusative synonym for ro8ass (LKVS and 7ro8apKrS, is used twenty-one times for Achilles and restricted to him absolutely. Though Taxvs, used for the lesser Ajax in the phrase 'OtA-ros raxivs A'asw, is also synonymous with 7TO8&pKrS, 7?'8aS WKVS,

and the inflected form 7To0co6Kos (i, a),

these chief epithets of Achilles themselves, if not their meaning besides, are still discriminative, or specific.

The kennings of Beowuif lack a similar order of individuality. Patronymics such as beam Healfdenes are for good reason limited to one or two men, as TeAa/ovwos

is limited to the greater Ajax and his brother, but many of the other half-lines fail to separate Beowulf or Hrothgar from Wiglaf or Hygelac. Men who share one kenning often do not share another; Beowulf resembles Hrothgar in some respects, Wiglaf in others, and Hygelac in still others. But unlike Achilles, Hector, and Agamemnon he has small claim upon adjectives or common nouns that dis- tinguish him from everyone else. A man who is 7ToAvrAas will always have a name of a certain length and will in fact always

99

WILLIAM WHALLON

be Odysseus; an eor/a drihten will always be a lord of earls but may evidently be any man of that rank-few scholars can say right off whether Hrothgar is ever so des- cribed. Beowulf is a Higelaces pegn like Eofor; a rices hyrde like Ingeld; a secg on searwum like Wiglaf; a wigendra hleo like Hrothgar and Sigemund; a folces hyrde like Hrothgar, Hygelac, and Ongentheow; a mxre (es, um, ne) peoden (nes, ne) like Hrothgar, Heremod, and Onela. As the sinces brytta is now Hrothgar and now Hygelac, the wine Scyldinga is Scyld, Hrothgar, or Ingeld. If the poetic language were more similar to its Homeric analogue, each major figure would have his own distinctive kenning for each letter of al-

literation, or at least for an impressive number of them; Beowulf would be unique not only as the beam Ecgteowes but also as, say, the secg on searwum and the wigendra hleo. Whether there would be merit in such restriction is another matter. To recall that Achilles should be described as 7robspKrys cannot have been trouble- some, since the epithet was tied to his name in a memorable phrase, but if Beowulf dominated a vast corpus of epic could any kenning comparable with 7To&dpK7ls, though used without the proper name, ever have become or been recog- nized as the inevitable formula for him alone? In the corpora that exist Agamem- non is act4 dv6pjwv but Hector not, because the poet of the Iliad used names of different length and needed epithets of dif- ferent length to augment them, while Wiglaf is a hwle hildedeor but Hrothgar not, because the poet of Beowulf seldom used kennings that would refer equally well to all men ever invented. Achilles is 7To6dpK77S and Odysseus iroAu-Aass, further- more, for the Iliad often gives individuality to the great heroes whose names are alike in meter, but Hygelac, Haethcyn, and Beowulf are each, in one passage or

another, described as the Geata dryhten, and to this extent the Old English kennings, in comparison with the Homeric epithets, may be thought generic.

That the Iliad now and then extends an epithet often used for a major figure to various minor figures hardly matters, since the likelihood that one iv4a &v8pcJ)v should

encounter another is slight, and even the considerable degree to which Beowulf uses the same kennirngs for men of the same class seldom matters much, since the narrative does not primarily concern a raid by one sinces brytta or rices hyrde upon another. What does matter is whether the same epithets or kennings are used for the figures that oppose or support each other in notable episodes. That Diomedes and Menelaus share fo07v Jya6os may not be greatly regretted, but Iliad ix.307-8 would be less interesting if it read TroAvfJLrqtS 'AXtAAevs and GeoedKEA'

'OvcP(T?v and Iliad xv.504 less interesting if

an Ajax who was himself Kopv6aioAos

spoke of KopvOacoAos- "EKiCrp. The Old

English poet may therefore be held to ac- count for his having described both the hero and the feond on helle with the term hilderinces (e). Why does Beowulf, manna mildust though he may be, speak of Grendel as a feasceaft guma in 973a, and why is the wrath of Grendel a healoegnes hete in 142a? Why indeed?-unless the work is explained from the limited re- sources of the traditional poetic word- hoard and the ordinary canons of literary judgment set aside as irrelevant and dis- tracting. James L. Rosier believes that healoegnes here is a thrust of deliberate irony,9 but Klaeber's general remarks to the contrary seem to me entirely perti- nent.10 There is merit in taking healoegnes hete, feasceaft guma, and hilderinces as ironic in their effect, but that the irony

9 "The Uses of Association," PMLA, LXXVIII (1963), 8. 10 MP, III (1905-06), 13, on helm Scyldinga in 371, atole

ecgAra?ce in 596, and iren zergod in 2586.

100

FORMULAS FOR HEROES IN THE " ILIAD " AND IN " BEOWULF 1

was intended is not, in my opinion, very likely.

It may be asked accordingly how the poet, in describing now Grendel and now Beowulf with hilderinces (e), and in using hordes hyrde (887) and gu4freca (2414) for dragons but hringa hyrde (2245) and hildfrecan (2366) for men, avoids so great a confusion as to end his song then and there. The answer is that such usage is ex- ceptional: the monsters generally have their own kennings which would be in- congruous for any human being. Grendel is an atol aeglaca in 732a and 816a, but never an steling ergod, although that phrase refers to Hrothgar, Aeschere, and Beowulf. This fact is no surprise but still, in one way, notable. Consider how 813- 816a would read if the atol a?gleca were as noble as his opponent:

but him the spirited had by the hand; a living foe. the excellent prince.

ac hine se modega haefde be honda; lifigende lad. avpeling ;ergod.

kinsman of Hygelac each was to the other A wound suffered

maeg Hygelaces waes gehwaper o6rum Licsar gebad

Who would be in pain here, whose sinews would crack, whose bone-joints burst in the following lines? The kennings are some- what generic but not accustomed to create nonsense: though often causing one ruler or warrior to resemble another, they stress rather than blur the difference between a man and a troll. And the poetic idiom was for this reason less well suited to large- scale conflicts between nations than to the epic that survives.

The attachment of the epithet to the proper name in the usual formula for a hero in the Iliad was caused by the de- mands of meter: the aoidos needed a phrase of a certain length and was often able to take the name as one element of

the phrase. The complete replacement of the name by the usual kenning for a hero in Beowulf was similarly inevitable from the demands of alliteration: the scop needed a phrase accented upon a given sound, and more often than not the name itself was dissonant. The epithetic phrase, owing to its inclusion of the name, referred to a single man without ambiguity and could therefore be used without regard to context; the typical kenning, owing to the exclusion of the name, was intelligible only from context and might refer to any member of a class. Who yCpwv Hplauos 0eoEt8&Ts is must always be clear as can be; who the mzrne keoden in 2384a is seems cloudy indeed. In the Odyssey, Menelaus is eight times flo)v acyaOs (v) MeveXao& (v), Nestor ten times rep7jvtOS ITrrToa NeaTrWp, and Odysseus thirty-seven times iroairAcas 8los 'ObuVUEVs; since these epithetic phrases are the same as they were in the Iliad, they are likely to have been in- variable throughout all the poetry of the Achaean tradition; even in a lay about the marriage of Helen her husband would have been flo7v &yafos MeveAaos. But the ken-

ningfolces hyrde in the closing lines of the Finnsburg fragment refers to Finn rather than to Beowulf, Hrothgar, Hygelac, or Ongentheow; although it cannot describe any man who is not a king, it does describe all kings without discrimination; Healf- dene might have been a folces hyrde in verse now lost.

The formulaic theory of epithets and kennings must sooner or later say whether their meaning is more than casually ap- propriate. Achilles does not appear swifter than other men in any measured contest but is the tremendous warrior at the heels of those who flee before him (Iliad, xx.89- 194; xxii. 136-207); Apollo in the guise of a mortal leads him in chase far from the city walls and then reveals himself by ask- ing why Achilles runs with swift feet in

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vain (Iliad, xxii.8). Since Achilles presides over the Funeral Games for Patroclus and does not participate in them, 'OtArjos 7aXvs Alas ("Oelian swift Ajax") might be expected to win the footrace, but Athene makes him slip on the filth from the bulls recently slain, and iroXArAcs 8Zos 'Ovra- cTEvs takes the first prize, not being des- cribed as 'To8&PKrS even here (Iliad, xxiii.778); Antilochus then credits Odys- seus with a green old age but adds that Achilles, had he competed, would have won beyond question, since in swiftness of foot no one can compare with him. So if the phrase rro8&pKr?s 8los 'AXtAAevs is of extreme antiquity, the epithet has left its mark on the epic matter.11 That tradi- tional formulas similarly affected the con- tent of Beowulf is less probable, since they do not ordinarily create a strong emphasis upon individuality. There is no point in saying that Beowulf was the great feke- cempa of alliterative verse, for apparently many another man might have been a fekecempa somewhere else in the same corpus. A kenning can have influenced the shape of the epic matter only when strikingly apt in its context-but even then the context is no less likely to have directed the choice of the kenning. Iffekecempa was already in mind for 1544a, the hero may have been made to stumble in 1 543a, rather than betray his weariness in another manner; but fekecempa may equally well have been chosen, rather than freca Scyldinga or other alternative, because just that term was brought to mind by the incident. Here is a clue to a further distinction between the Homeric and the Old English epic.

Since the epithets accompany their names without respect to time or circum- stance, they are once in a while rather at

11 In "The Homeric Epithets," Yale Classical Studies XVII (1961), 97-142, I argue that the epithets aval dv1p6v for Agamemnon, KopvOaloAos for Hector, and (wet6ra for Nestor also led to the creation of passages that exemplify them.

odds with the passages where they appear: the Odyssey gives Menelaus small chance to use his war cry, and even as a shade his brother is addressed as avf &cv3pcJv 'AyO?LLEVVov (Odyssey xi.397; xxiv. 121). The kenning is seldom quite so irrelevant to context: not firmly bound to a name, it can easily be replaced-by a phrase of the same size and alliteration. When a warrior becomes a king he does not need to be described as a warrior any longer. If once he was a guma gudum cud (2178a), he now becomes a god guJcyning (2563a); if once a reke cempa (1585a) or Geata cempa (1551b), he becomes a rices hyrde (3080a) or Geata dryhten (2576a). When Hrothgar is a har hilderinc (1307a) and folces hyrde (610a), the haele hildedeor (1646a) and fekecempa (1544a) is Beowulf, who later becomes a har hilderinc (3136a) and folces hyrde (2644b), the hEele hildedior (3111a) and feJecempa (2853a) then being Wiglaf. The Grendel episodes and the dragon episode are in this manner distinguished by an exact transference of formulas. Though neither the ten years between the two Homeric epics nor the changes in per- sonal situation are indicated by the epithets of the heroes common to both poems, the fifty years between the two main parts of the Old English epic and the change from earl to king are decisively indicated by the kennings for the hero of the entire work.12

The Iliad would be tedious indeed if all men invariably received the same epithets. But the economy generally characteristic of the Homeric style is opposed by the use of names that vary in meter and con- sequently cannot be modified by the same epithets, and also by the use of certain distinctive epithets which the leading heroes do not share even with men whose names are metrically similar to their own.

12 This paragraph and certain other parts of the essay were read before the Old English section of the Modern Language Association in 1964.

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FORMULAS FOR HEROES IN THE " ILIAD " AND IN " BEOWULF "

Agamemnon does not receive 7ro8dpKYS

because he cannot; Odysseus does not re- ceive ZrospKNs though he can. If the breach of economy were greater, everyone would have his own distinctive epithets. Beowulf would not be so much tedious as impenetrable if all the kennings were shared equally. Such an intolerable degree of economy is opposed by the use of phrases that apply only to thanes of Hygelac or givers of rings or rulers of the Geats, and also by the use of different kennings for the epic hero after he has be- come king and an old man. He does not continue to be a fekecempa and hale hildedeor (in the half-lines alliterating on f or h ... h) but is now a folces hyrde and har hilderinc. If the breach of economy were greater, he would be acutely described in every instance.

Achilles is always spoken of as 7TO8dpK7

8los 'AXLAAevs if his name is to be ex- pressed in a phrase of that length and case; he is eminently swift-footed in the epic as a whole but need not be swift-footed just when he is so described. The term feke- cempa may refer now to Beowulf and later to Wiglaf if their names are to be replaced by a half-line of that alliteration; each is significantly a champion afoot just when he is so described but need not be a champion afoot in the epic as a whole. Beowulf corresponds to an Iliad in which Odysseus is often 7rovXas T lOST '& S OVUrUe1s

but in xxiii.778, when he takes up the prize for winning the footrace, is rTrO&pKrS 8los

'O8VcUeuVS instead. The Iliad corresponds to a Beowulf in which the epic hero is always a fekecempa, never a folces hyrde, and is the only fekecempa in the poetic corpus.

This study of the two epics has so far compared them in ways that may indicate how an inherited formulaic diction relates to the drawing of character. The different qualities of the Iliad and Beowulf that

derive from the use of the name in the formulas of the one, and the replacement of the name in the formulas of the other, are solely philological and have nothing to do with the province of aesthetics or critical evaluation. But in one way the epics are not analogous, and a choice be- tween them would be worthwhile. The Iliad, which uses distinctive epithets for the leading figures, seldom contains epi- thets for any one man that scan alike, but Beowulf, which uses kennings appropriate to the situation, often contains kennings similar in meaning that alliterate alike. Here is an Old English breach of economy that has no good analogue in the Homeric style. Although Achilles is LeyJ6vuos

'AXLAAevs in Iliad xxiii.168 instead of iro'6as WKVS 'AXLAAEks, and although Hector is "EKTOpa rOLqEva Aa6cv in Iliad x.406 and xxii.277 instead of "EKTopa XaAKOKOPVaTrrv, the number of similar examples is relatively small, and none of the listed phrases which fill the last three and one-quarter feet of the line can be replaced by a competitor. It is therefore to be explained why Hroth- gar should be a freowine folca in 430a but a folces hyrde in 610a, and Hygelac a freawine folca in 2357a but a folces hyrde in 1832a and 1849a. Since peoden is not one of the titles that specifically designate a king, why is Beowulf Wedergeata leod in 1492b, 1612b, and 2551a, but Wedra peoden in 2336a, 2786b, and 3037a? Why is he wigena strengel in 3115b instead of wigendra hleo as in 1972b and 2337b, why wzlreow wiga in 629a instead of wlanc Wedera leod as in 341a, why god mid Geatum in 195a instead of guma gu6um cub as in 2178a, why Geatmecga leod in 829a instead of Gu5geata leod as in 1 538a? These questions are not quickly answered unless they are all answered together.

Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch thought that Hrothgar's lament for Aeschere (1321-29) was one of the finest passages in Beowulf

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but nevertheless immeasurably inferior to lines taken almost at random from the Iliad (xvi. 774-76). The three texts he chose as most essential for the teaching of literature were Homer, the Bible in the Authorized Version, and Shakespeare, and if limited to one of them he declared he would prefer Homer above all.13 James R. Hulbert, on the other hand, con- fesses that he is bored by the numerous Homeric genealogies of minor figures and by the many repeated incidents in the battle scenes; he finds the Homeric style prosaic and the Homeric heroes, such as Agamemnon and Achilles in the first book

13 On the Art of Writing (New York, 1916), pp. 195-96, 229.

of the Iliad, lacking in nobility of speech and action. Beowulf he prefers for its con- ciseness, its more elevated style, and the greater dignity of its men.l4' Quiller- Couch, then, might have said that the variation without apparent need in the Old English use of formulas was a sign of failure to match the precision of the Homeric diction; Hulbert might say that the poet of Beowulf employed this further kind of variation because he was a more skilful artist than the poet of the Iliad.

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

14 "Beowulf and the Classical Epic," MP, XLIV (1946-47), 73-74.

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