enumeration: the poet “enumerates” the lists of people, objects or places involved in a story. The creators of An Iliad make interesting use of this convention at several points in the play, perhapsmost noticeablywhen the poet, in an impressive display ofmemorization, lists over 140wars.
epithet: recurrent phrases used to describe people or places. These phrases made the poems easier to memorize and were often repeated throughout the poembecause they conveniently it into themeter. Some epithets (such as Homer’s “rosy-ingered dawn”) have become so well-known that they continue to be used today.
Moremodern epic poems (since 1500) are often known as “secondary” or “literary” epics, since theywere created on the page rather than spoken aloud. Readersmight recognize
JohnMilton’s Paradise Lost, Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene orWaltWhitman’s Song of Myself as variousmodern incarnations of the epic poem.
Who are TheMuses?
Clio, Euterpe et Thalie by Eustache Le Sueur, 1640
In antiquity, the term referred to nine goddesses, who were both the embodiments of the arts and sciences and their patrons. These goddesses were the children of Zeus and Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory, and each was afiliated with a speciic art, including drama, dance, different types of poetry and
astronomy.Many ancient poems, including the Iliad and the Odyssey, begin with an invocation to the Muses who were believed to be the source of artistic inspiration. Some believed that the poet simply acted as a mouthpiece for the Muses, sharing their truth rather than creating his own. The traditional invocation at the start of poemswas used by poets for millennia, both tying their work to some higher force and
linking it to the long history of poetry and storytellingwhich had preceded it.
In An Iliad, the Poet is not entirely alone. Throughout the performance, our guide repeatedly calls on the Muses to help himtell his story. “
OhMuses.Don’tmakeme do this alone,” he implores. TheMuses oblige in the formofMark Bennett’smusical compositions, performed by double-bassist Brian Ellingsen. The music in the piece is another character, and relects and informs the Poet’s internal feelings, helping him tell the story. As Bennett puts it, “In this piece,music functions as a presence. The presence of a person playing an instrument and the idea of sound hung in the air…The sound is at times as big as the world, and at times as small as the idea of a swirl ofmemory going on in the back of the head of this character.” Rachel Hauck, the scenic designer, created a catwalk along the house leftwall of the theatre, placing the musician “in the space and out of the space at the same time,” and putting him in a position that is “of the gods,” creating a dynamic playing space down to the actor on stage.
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