Seth Schein, Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature, University of California, Davis: Cognitive Science and Greek Meter: Hermann’s Bridge in the Homeric Hexameter and the Interpretation of Iliad 24

Recent work in Cognitive Neuro-Linguistics provides a more solid theoretical basis for the study of meter as a pathway into the literary interpretation of Homeric epic than do aesthetic approaches on which scholars have previously relied.  Drawing on research into “Event-Related Brain Potentials” (ERPs), Professor Schein’s paper focuses on Hermann’s Bridge as a point of departure for discussion of the opening of Iliad 24, where there are conspicuous violations of this metrical norm in lines 35 and 60.  He argues that these metrical anomalies resonate meaningfully with other metrical and stylistic features in this part of the poem, with the presence in the opening of Book 24 of mythological details familiar from the Cyclic epic, the Kypria, with the Homeric representation of Thetis, and with central themes and values of the Iliad.

Seth Schein,  Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature, will present Cognitive Science and Greek Meter: Hermann’s Bridge in the Homeric Hexameter and the Interpretation of Iliad 24 on Tuesday,  April 23, 2013 at 5:00pm in HUMN 180. This lecture is sponsored by The Classics Department and the Graduate Committee on the Arts and Humanities, and is free and open to the public; a reception will follow in HUMN 350.