The flexibility of the Homeric formula

This book represents an important step forward in the study of Homer's formulary method of composition. Hainsworth has demonstrated beyond a doubt that Homer's use of formulas is not so simple as may at first sight appear and actually far less rigid than Parry himself believed. He displays Homer as much less a creature of habit and much more a poet who really thought about what he was doing. This is a useful corrective of the most rigid Parryism and should be a view that almost all Homerists will be glad to accept. We now have some notion of the nature of the devices at Homer's disposal for modifying his phrases, devices which make his task of composition much easier and add variety to his style. "A certain degree of flexibility is as traditional as a certain degree of rigidity." Hainsworth incidentally expresses some sound and welcome reservations about the "anti-traditional" usage discovered and assailed by Page and Kirk. It is typical of Hainsworth's careful attention to details that his is one of the few works printed in the English-speaking world since 1928 in which the "traditionnelle" of Parry's title is correctly spelled.