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I remember Michael Wood's TV series about the Iliad and he mentioned the repetition in it. He then showed a modern day Armenian troubadour (for lack of a better word) singing a story with instrumental accompaniment to a rapt audience [1].

Is the repetition a clue that maybe these poems were meant to be sung, and not read?

[1] https://youtu.be/64QPz2t5T3A?t=1027

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They were meant to be told around a campfire, by people who could not read or write. The repetition was a mnemonic helper, a storytelling device to impress character traits (e.g. instead of saying "Batman" you say "Batman, the Dark Knight"), and a way to take time to think about the next step in the tale (in a way similar to rappers reaching for certain words over and over, as "crutches", because they know they are easy to rhyme).

That reminds me of Sabaton.

In a way, Sabaton can be considered to the modern-day bard, singing in Metal.

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