Adam Parry on Apostrophe in Homer

 In my previous entry on apostrophe, I speculated that occurrences of second person address used by the narrator in the Odyssey might be best explained as remnants of a previous placement of the Eumaeus sequence. Perhaps at some earlier point in the Homeric tradition a character within the narrative address Eumaeus instead of the narrator, thus making the lines preceding a speech of Eumaeus second person by formula.
 Of course more research is needed, and I began with Adam Parry's 1972 article, which argues that formulaic expressions and epithets in fact contain meaningful content and are for audience response.(1) Also, Parry (1972, 10) argues that meter would never have been an obstacle for the creation/composition of epic verse. For example:

It is time we stopped saying that the poet must have said a thing in this way because no other way existed for him to say it. We do not know what existed, either potentially or actually.

  First, Parry covers the apostrophes in the Iliad addressed to Patroclus. Parry sees in Patroclus the counter-paradigm to other major characters in the Iliad in that he alone is "gentle" (meilikhos). Patroclus, according to Parry, drives the plot of the Iliad in that he alone can tell Achilles how heartless he must be to ignore the suffering of the Greeks. Thus, Parry sets up Patroclus as the sympathetic character par excellence, to whom the bard speaks with great affection. In this case, if Parry is correct, apostrophe indicates a heightened emotional importance of the person addressed in that context.
  Second, Parry discusses the apostrophes involving Menelaus in the Iliad. Parry argues that Menelaus has more at stake in the Trojan war than just glory and honor in battle; he is upholding his right as a husband and leader among the Greeks. The theft of his wife must be requited. Additionally, the gods, Athena and Hera in particular, have a special interest in Menelaus' cause and survival. His moral authority as the mistreated host and husband of Helen keeps the Greeks in the moral high ground. Parry also adduces evidence that Menelaus is a gentle and sympathetic character who stands as a contrast to others, especially his brother Agamemnon. Parry (1972, 19) summarizes his understanding of the apostrophes of Menelaus in the following excerpt:

All these apostrophes appear in scenes which especially reveal aspects of Menelaus' character that the poet elsewhere is at pains to throw into relief; and they occur in connexion with those persons, Patroclus and Achilles, whose relationship with Menelaus again throws light on his character. Did the poet carefully plan out these subtle details of the poem's architecture? Not exactly, we may guess. Rather he had developed, over the years in which he had sung countless versions of these stories, a precise conception of Menelaus' character and his relation to other characters which made these details, including the apostrophes, fall into place.

Footnotes:
(1) Parry (1972) "Language and Characterization in Homer" HSPh 76: 1-22