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Critical Commentary: The Homeric Hymn to Demeter
- including ideas from Foley’s analysis
The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, like most poetry of its’ time, was designed primarily for oral recitation and would probably have served as a prelude to other epic poetry. Hymns of this sort were written to honour and extol deities, and as is the case here, would frequently begin and end with a reference to the God or Goddess being praised;
“Demeter I begin to sing, the fair tressed awesome goddess…”
The Hymn to Demeter tells the story of Persephone’s abduction by Hades and of how her mother, Demeter, forced the gods to allow her to return from the underworld for part of each year. The Hymn serves also as a literary aetiology of the festival known as the Eleusinian Mysteries. ... For example, Demeter does eventually agree to allow the crops to grow again, bringing the world to the current state that we see it in. ... The Nysian plain, usually associated with Dionysus is mentioned in line 17 whereas in line 40 there seems to be a reference to the mourning of Hekabe and Andromache in the Iliad (perhaps also to the Egyptian Goddess Isis when mourning Osiris) when Demeter tears her veil; “Sharp grief seized her heart, and she tore the veil”.
Approximate Word count = 843
Approximate Pages = 3.4
(250 words per page double spaced)
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