Oral Tradition, Epithets, and J.D. Robb

In many romance novels, particularly those in series, the reader's familiarity with the characters and setting can be reinforced by repeated use of the same descriptive phrases. I think this is similar to the technique of assigning epithets, often poetic, to various characters in oral tradition, such as these examples from Orphic Hymns: "Poseidon, ruler of the sea profound, dark-haired, whose