Abstract

This thesis is intended as an examination of what 'poetic language' entails in terms of both its form and its function, particularly with respect to the Indo-European (and specifically the Old Irish) tradition. The methodology for reconstructing Proto-Indo-European is introduced, and the Indo-European poetic tradition is considered both linguistically and culturally. Both the poet and his audience participate in the poetic culture of the Indo-Europeans, and consequently both are discussed in terms of their respective degrees of competence in the poetic language; the social function and training of the poet in particular are considered. It is argued that Indo-European poetic language, and the poetic forms descended from it, define the norms of the use of language for all artistic purposes. It is shown through the analysis of poetic features in a prose passage from the Old Irish text Táin Bó Cúailnge that the language of poetry has influenced the artistic use of language so that even prose composition contains poetic features, resulting in a parapoetic style that is distinct from the stylistically less marked prose more usual in the narrative tradition.