Teaching of Amenemhat I

The Teaching of King Amenemhat I
Commentary. General issues

Structure

The fifteen segments indicated by the New Kingdom (about 1550-1069 BC) manuscripts are of uneven length, and may not correspond precisely to original divisions. However they provide a basis from which to begin formal analysis of the composition.

Sections 1-5 introductory passage with formal setting (1) and warning (2-4)
Sections 6-9 the central passage describing attack (6-7) and lack of warning (8-9)
Sections 10-13 passage justifying the reign as a series of good deeds of kingship
Sections 14-15 closing passage, entrusting the heritage of the reign to the young king

Within each passage examine the recurrences of consonant groups, and consider the effects of each (transferred to a MS Word document, this can be done with the Find command). Then examine the sound repetitions across the composition. Examine recurrences of theme through the repetitions in vocabulary and topic. These detailed analyses provide access to, and reflection on the density of information in the poetic word, where each item in its place and relation to the whole carries intensified resonance. See Lotman 1970 (Russian, translated into German as Die Struktur literarischer Texte, Munich 1972)

For the formal analysis of Egyptian literary compositions, see Burkard 1996. For stylistic effects of repetition, etc, discussed in Latin literary criticism terms, see Guglielmi 1996.