Description: How to Kill a Dragon : Aspects of Indo-European Poetics, Paperback by Watkins, Calvert, ISBN 0195144139, ISBN-13 9780195144130, Brand New, Free shipping in the US In How to Kill a Dragon Calvert Watkins follows the continuum of poetic formulae in Indo-European languages, from Old Hittite to medieval Irish. He uses the comparative method to reconstruct traditional poetic formulae of considerable complexity that stretch as far back as the original common
language. Thus, Watkins reveals the antiquity and tenacity of the Indo-European poetic tradition.
Watkins begins this study with an introduction to the field of comparative Indo-European poetics; he explores the Saussurian notions of synchrony and diachrony, and locates the various Indo-European traditions and ideologies of the spoken word. Further, his overview presents case studies on the
forms of verbal art, with selected texts drawn from Indic, Iranian, Greek, Latin, Hittite, Armenian, Celtic, and Germanic languages.
In the remainder of th, Watkins examines in detail the structure of the dragon/serpent-slaying myths, which recur in various guises throughout the Indo-European poetic tradition. He finds the "signature" formula for the myth--the divine hero who slays the serpent or overcomes
adversaries--occurs in the same linguistic form in a wide range of sources and over millennia, including Old and Middle Iranian holy books, Greek epic, Celtic and Germanic sagas, down to Armenian oral folk epic of the last century. Watkins argues that this formula is the vehicle for the central
theme of a proto-text, and a central part of the symbolic culture of speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language: the relation of humans to their universe, the values and expectations of their society. Therefore, he further argues, poetry was a social necessity for Indo- European society, where the
poet could confer on patrons what they and their culture valued above all else: "imperishable fame."
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Book Title: How to Kill a Dragon : Aspects of Indo-European Poetics
Number of Pages: 640 Pages
Publication Name: How to Kill a Dragon : Aspects of Indo-European Poetics
Language: English
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Incorporated
Item Height: 1.7 in
Publication Year: 2001
Subject: Poetry, Linguistics / Historical & Comparative, Ancient & Classical
Item Weight: 31.4 Oz
Type: Textbook
Author: Calvert Watkins
Subject Area: Literary Criticism, Language Arts & Disciplines
Item Length: 6.4 in
Item Width: 9.2 in
Format: Trade Paperback
