In this video, Keith Stone asks Gregory Nagy, Leonard Muellner, and Douglas Frame about reading Homeric poetry aloud. Topics include: pronunciation and its changes through time; pausing at enjambments; mastering the rhythm by memorizing passages; fixed metrical patterns; rhythm built into the language; predictability of ends of hexameter lines.
Examples taken from:[1]
Odyssey 1.187–193 (enjambments):
ξεῖνοι δʼ ἀλλήλων πατρώιοι εὐχόμεθʼ εἶναι
ἐξ ἀρχῆς, εἴ πέρ τε γέροντʼ εἴρηαι ἐπελθὼν
Λαέρτην ἥρωα, τὸν οὐκέτι φασὶ πόλινδε
ἔρχεσθʼ, ἀλλʼ ἀπάνευθεν ἐπʼ ἀγροῦ πήματα πάσχειν
γρηὶ σὺν ἀμφιπόλῳ, ἥ οἱ βρῶσίν τε πόσιν τε
παρτιθεῖ, εὖτʼ ἄν μιν κάματος κατὰ γυῖα λάβῃσιν
ἑρπύζοντʼ ἀνὰ γουνὸν ἀλωῆς οἰνοπέδοιο.
Odyssey 1.194–200 (meter):
νῦν δʼ ἦλθον· δὴ γάρ μιν ἔφαντʼ ἐπιδήμιον εἶναι,
σὸν πατέρʼ· ἀλλά νυ τόν γε θεοὶ βλάπτουσι κελεύθου.
οὐ γάρ πω τέθνηκεν ἐπὶ χθονὶ δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς,
ἀλλʼ ἔτι που ζωὸς κατερύκεται εὐρέι πόντῳ
νήσῳ ἐν ἀμφιρύτῃ, χαλεποὶ δέ μιν ἄνδρες ἔχουσιν
ἄγριοι, οἵ που κεῖνον ἐρυκανόωσʼ ἀέκοντα.
αὐτὰρ νῦν τοι ἐγὼ μαντεύσομαι, ὡς ἐνὶ θυμῷ
Referred to in this video:
Allen, W.S. 3rd edition, 1987. Vox Graeca: a guide to the pronunciation of classical Greek. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
Related topics
Introduction to the Meter of Homeric Epic, with Leonard Muellner
Practice reading dactylic hexameter, with Leonard Muellner
Reading Homer series: Gregory Nagy, Leonard Muellner, and Douglas Frame read in Homeric Greek, translate, and discuss passages
[1] Greek text from: Homer. The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. 1919 Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd.