Priamel

Article summary

A priamel ( ) is a literary and rhetorical device consisting of a series of listed alternatives that serve as foils to the true subject of the poem, which is revealed in a climax. For example, Fragment 16 by the Greek poet Sappho (translated by Mary Barnard) begins with a priamel: :Οἰ μὲν ἰππήων στρότον οἰ δὲ πέσδων :οἰ δὲ νάων φαῖσ᾽ ἐπὶ γᾶν μέλαιναν :ἔμμεναι κάλλιστον ἔγω δὲ κῆν᾽ ::ὄττω τὶς ἔραται. ::Some say a cavalry corps, ::some infantry, some, again, ::will maintain that the swift oars ::of our fleet are the finest ::sight on dark earth; but I say ::that whatever one loves, is. Other examples are found in Pindar's First Olympian, Horace, Villon, Shakespeare, and Baudelaire, as well as in the Bible, both Old Testament and New Testament: :Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. (AV) (Psalms 20:7) :And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. (AV) (Luke 9:58) William H. Race, in his book on the subject, writes: :As for the term itself, "priamel" was unknown to ancient writers. There is no word in Greek or Latin which describes it, and no discussion in the voluminous writings on rhetoric which indicates any theoretical knowledge of it.…

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