"Inanna's Descent" as a Piece of Entertainment

The foreword for “Inanna’s Descent” claims that this story was told orally for entertainment. If that was indeed the case, this myth serves its purpose well. First of all, its style is well suited for a live performance because it is easy to follow and pleasant to listen to. Also, its content is likely to hold the audience’s attention because it is related to familiar things from everyday experience.
There is purposely a lot of repetition in this story, which serves two purposes in an oral performance. Since the audience is listening for entertainment, they are likely not paying that close attention and will probably miss some things. Even then, they will not miss important parts of the story because those important lines are repeated. In addition to helping the audience follow the story, the repetition makes it more pleasing to the ear. The redundant lines give the poem a rhythm that makes it seem almost musical. In the beginning, I did not have a particular interest in the story itself, but I enjoyed reading it because of its repetitive form. Just like it must have drawn in the audiences for which it was performed, it held my attention and made me appreciate the story more.
This does not apply to us today, but the original audiences must have enjoyed listening to “Inanna’s Descent” because many parts of the story were relevant to their everyday lives. The temples that were mentioned probably physically existed. Then, the story would give meaning to those temples. As Black claims, the “experience of the real physical landscapes of their daily lives would have been transfigured by their own familiarity with that literature” (60). For example, E-engur would not merely be a temple to them, it would be the place where the god Enki helped Inanna escape from the netherworld. Inanna’s story might have appealed to shepherds because her butchering and return with the water and grass reflects one year in the life of a flock of sheep. These familiar things help keep the story grounded, while it is still mythical.