| Aspects of Indo-European Poetics | |
I. | The Field of Comparative Poetics: Introduction and Background | |
1. | The comparative method in linguistics and poetics | 3 |
2. | Sketch for a history of Indo-European poetics | 12 |
3. | Poetics as grammar: Typology of poetic devices, and some rules of poetic grammar | 28 |
4. | Poetics as repertory: The poetic traditions of the Indo-European world--sources and texts | 50 |
5. | The Indo-European poet: His social function and his art | 68 |
6. | The poet's truth: The power, particularity, and preserveration of the word | 85 |
II. | Case Studies | |
7. | Greece and the art of the word | 97 |
8. | Vedic India and the art of the word | 109 |
9. | Ireland and the art of the syllable | 117 |
10. | Saxa loquuntur: The first age of poetry in Italy--Faliscan and South Picene | 126 |
11. | Most ancient Indo-Europeans | 135 |
12. | The comparison of formulaic sequences | 152 |
13. | An Indo-European stylistic figure | 165 |
14. | A late Indo-European traditional epithet | 170 |
15. | An Indo-European theme and formula: Imperishable fame | 173 |
16. | The hidden track of the cow: Obscure styles in Indo-European | 179 |
III. | The Strophic Style: An Indo-European Poetic Form | |
17. | Some Indo-European prayers: Cato's lustration of the fields | 197 |
18. | Umbria: The Tables of Iguvium | 214 |
19. | Italy and India: The elliptic offering | 226 |
20. | Strophic structures as "rhythmic prose"? Italic | 229 |
21. | Strophic structures in Iranian | 232 |
22. | 'Truth of truth', 'most kavi of kavis', 'throng-lord of throngs': An Indo-Iranian stylistic figure | 241 |
23. | More strophic structures | 247 |
24. | Early Irish rosc | 255 |
25. | The Asvamedha or Horse Sacrifice: An Indo-European liturgical form | 265 |
26. | Orphic gold leaves and the great way of the soul: Strophic style, funerary ritual formula, and eschatology | 277 |
| How to Kill a Dragon in Indo-European: A Contribution to the Theory of the Formula | |
IV. | The Basic Formula and Its Variants in the Narration of the Myth | |
27. | Preliminaries | 297 |
28. | The root *g[superscript u]hen-: Vedic han- | 304 |
29. | The root *g[superscript u]hen-: Avestan jan- | 313 |
30. | The root *g[superscript u]hen-: Hittite kuen- and the Indo-European theme and formula | 321 |
31. | The slayer slain: A reciprocal formula | 324 |
32. | First variant: The root *udeh- | 330 |
33. | 'Like a reed': The Indo-European background of a Luvian ritual | 335 |
34. | Second variant: the root *terh[subscript 2]- | 343 |
35. | Latin tarentum, the ludi saeculares, and Indo-European eschatology | 347 |
36. | The myth in Greece: Variations on the formula and theme | 357 |
37. | Expansion of the formula: A recursive formulaic figure | 370 |
38. | Herakles, the formulaic hero | 374 |
39. | Hermes, Enualios, and Lukoworgos: The Serpent-slayer and the Man-slayer | 383 |
40. | Nektar and the adversary Death | 391 |
41. | The saga of Iphitos and the hero as monster | 398 |
42. | The name of Meleager | 408 |
43. | The Germanic world | 414 |
44. | Thor's hammer and the mace of Contract | 429 |
V. | Some Indo-European Dragons and Dragon-Slayers | |
45. | Fergus mac Leti and the muirdris | 441 |
46. | Typhoeus and the Illuyankas | 448 |
47. | Python and Ahi Budhnya, the Serpent of the Deep | 460 |
48. | Azi dakaka, Visvarupa, and Geryon | 464 |
VI. | From Myth to Epic | |
49. | From God to hero: The formulaic network in Greek | 471 |
50. | The best of the Achaeans | 483 |
51. | To be the death of: Transformation of the formula | 488 |
52. | The formula without the word: A note on Euripides and Lysias | 493 |
53. | The basic formula and the announcement of death | 499 |
54. | Further Indo-European comparisons and themes | 505 |
55. | The song of victory in Greek | 510 |
VII. | From Myth to Charm | |
56. | From dragon to worm | 519 |
57. | The charms of Indo-European | 525 |
58. | Indo-European medical doctrine | 537 |
59. | The poet as healer | 540 |
| Abbreviations | 545 |
| References | 550 |
| Indexes of names and subjects | 577 |
| Index of passages | 586 |
| Index of words | 601 |