The Greek poet Homer's metaphorical use of teeth, tongue, and words is considered within the cultural and literary history of Greece of his time. The concept of teeth forming a fence is extended to mean a cage; the use of wing, feather, the verb 'fly', and bird-like words are taken to indicate that words and speech are seen as caged birds. The idea of the tongue as the door to the cage of the teeth is developed. (Copyright 1995, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.) (K. Burch in LLBA 1995, vol. 29, n. 5)