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260:(1873–1957), who suggested that "the poems of the guslars consist of a juxtaposition of cliches relatively few in number and with which it suffices merely to be conversant … A fine guslar is one who handles these cliches as we play with cards, who orders them differently according to the use he wishes to make of them".
51:
Homeric epic is entirely composed of formulae handed down from poet to poet. An examination of any passage will quickly reveal that it is made up of lines and fragments of lines which are reproduced word for word in one or several other passages. Even those lines of which the parts happen not to
42:
The key idea of the theory is that poets have a store of formulae (a formula being 'an expression that is regularly used, under the same metrical conditions, to express a particular essential idea') and that by linking the formulae in conventionalised ways, poets can rapidly compose verse.
611:
Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1960 (Second edition: edited by Stephen Mitchell and Gregory Nagy, Harvard Studies in Comparative Literature 24. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000; Third edition: edited by David F. Elmer, Center for Hellenic Studies, 2019
222:
The oral-formulaic theory of composition has now been applied to a wide variety of languages and works. A provocative new application of oral-formulaic theory is its use in attempting to explain the origin of at least some parts of the
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verse form, where every line contains six groups of syllables.) Moreover, such phrases would be subject to internal substitutions and adaptations, permitting flexibility in response to narrative and grammatical needs:
143:
for oral-formulaic poetry, however, was established by the work of Parry and his student Lord, not on oral recitation of Homer (which no longer was practiced), but on the (similar)
127:
could have been passed down through many generations purely through word of mouth and why its formulas appeared as they did. His work was influential in the field of
600:
280:
159:, where oral-formulaic composition could be observed and recorded ethnographically. Formulaic variation is apparent, for example, in the following lines:
38:
the reasons for orally improvised poetry (or written poetry deriving from traditions of oral improvisation) having the characteristics that it does
227:. Oral-Formulaic theory has also been applied to early Japanese works. The oral-formulaic theory has also been applied to the Olonko epic of the
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Magoun thought that formulaic poetry was necessarily oral in origin. That sparked a major and ongoing debate over the extent to which
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115:, longer, conventionalised depictions of generic actions in epic like the steps taken to arm oneself or to prepare a ship for sea.
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recur in any other passage have the same formulaic character, and it is doubtless pure chance that they are not attested elsewhere.
16:
239:
Before Parry, at least two other folklorists also noted the use of formulas among the epic tale singers of
Yugoslavian (known as
670:
Reece, Steve. "Orality and
Literacy: Ancient Greek Literature as Oral Literature," in David Schenker and Martin Hose (eds.),
687:
643:. "Studies in the Epic Technique of Oral Verse-Making. II: The Homeric Language as the Language of an Oral Poetry."
247:
254:, believed these storytellers depended on "the fixed formulas from which he neither can nor wishes to vary".
88:("winedark sea") occupies a certain metrical pattern that fits, in modular fashion, into the six-foot Greek
706:
181:
177:
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Oral-formulaic theory was originally developed, principally by Parry in the 1920s, to explain how the
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and developed in the second quarter of the twentieth century. It seeks to explain two related issues:
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Windelberg, Marjorie and D. Gary Miller (1980): "How (Not) to Define the Epic
Formula,"
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poetry, which survives only in written form, should be seen as, in some sense, oral poetry.
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64:(1912–1991), the approach transformed the study of ancient and medieval poetry and of
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567:
An eEdition of The
Wedding of Mustajbey’s Son Bećirbey as performed by Halil Bajgorić
124:
633:. "Studies in the Epic Technique of Oral Verse-Making. I: Homer and Homeric Style."
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Magoun, Francis P., Jr. "Oral-Formulaic
Character of Anglo-Saxon Narrative Poetry",
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630:
228:
57:
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250:(1859–1938), a specialist in Yugoslavian folklore, who had done fieldwork with
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or bard in extemporaneous composition. (The Iliad and The
Odyssey both use
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653:
The making of
Homeric verse : the collected papers of Milman Parry
186:
156:
478:
190:) in which formulaic variation such as the following is prominent:
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generally. The main exponent and developer of their approaches was
679:
Reece, Steve. "Greek Epic
Formulae," in Giorgios Giannakis (ed.),
224:
15:
451:
The Making of Homeric Verse: The Collected Papers of Milman Parry
487:
Arnold van Gennep. 1909. (tretise) "La Question d’Homere", p. 52
388:
Japanese Singers of Tales: Ten Centuries of Performed Narrative
109:("glancing-helmed Hector"). Formulas can also be combined into
523:. Oxford theory in ethnomusicology. Oxford University Press.
401:
Storytelling in Siberia: The Olonkho Epic in a Changing World
576:
Weathered words : formulaic language and verbal art
416:
The Theory of Oral Composition: History and Methodology
681:
Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics
105:("swift footed Achilles") is metrically equivalent to
27:
is a theory that originated in the scholarly study of
403:. Urbana-Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press.
419:. Bloomington: Indian University Press. p. 13.
60:(1902–1935), and subsequently the latter's student
349:Kirsch, Adam (14 June 2021). "The Echoing Song".
307:(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1960), p. 4
35:the process by which oral poets improvise poetry
541:Fables of the Ancients?: Folklore in the Qur'an
49:
319:Les origines indo-européennes des mètres grecs
8:
303:(Paris, 1928), p. 16; cf. Albert B. Lord,
281:Oral-formulaic theory in Anglo-Saxon poetry
599:: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
321:, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France
544:. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
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243:), (something acknowledged by Parry):
645:Harvard Studies in Classical Philology
635:Harvard Studies in Classical Philology
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655:. New York: Oxford University Press.
390:. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing.
370:. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books.
7:
565:Foley, John Miles (ed. and trans.),
453:, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p.270 n.1
336:
301:L’epithèt traditionnelle dans Homère
573:Frog; Lamb, William, eds. (2022).
211:("Beowulf spoke, son of Ecgtheow")
209:Beowulf mathelode bearn Ecgtheowes
56:In the hands of Meillet's student
47:expressed the idea in 1923, thus:
14:
195:Hrothgar mathelode helm Scildinga
674:(Oxford: Blackwell, 2015) 43-57.
80:In Homeric verse, a phrase like
520:Music Theory in Ethnomusicology
496:
462:
365:An Oral-Formulaic Study of the
683:(Leiden: Brill, 2014) 613-615.
386:Tokita, Alison McQueen. 2015.
166:("But spoke of Orashatz Tale")
1:
672:Companion to Greek Literature
180:, also applied the theory to
131:and changed the discourse on
579:. Cambridge, Massachusetts.
119:Work of Parry and successors
363:Bannister, Andrew G. 2014.
176:Lord, and more prominently
172:("But spoke Mujo's Halil").
728:
413:Foley, John Miles (1988).
84:("rosy fingered dawn") or
25:Oral-formulaic composition
317:Meillet, Antoine (1923),
327:'s translation, revised.
248:Friedrich Salomon Krauss
201:spoke, protector of the
170:a besjedi Mujagin Halile
164:a besjedi od Orasca Tale
155:oral epic poetry in the
637:Vol. 41 (1930), 73–143.
499:Fables of the Ancients?
465:Fables of the Ancients?
651:Parry, Milman (1987).
517:Blum, Stephen (2023).
178:Francis Peabody Magoun
54:
21:
20:Statue depicting Homer
647:Vol. 43 (1932), 1–50.
538:Dundes, Alan (2003).
399:Harris, Robin. 2017.
19:
627:, 28 (1953): 446–67.
609:The Singer of Tales.
103:podas okus Akhilleus
305:The singer of tales
235:Precursors of Parry
129:Homeric scholarship
182:Old English poetry
107:koruthaiolos Ektor
98:dactylic hexameter
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353:. pp. 72–75.
258:Arnold van Gennep
92:, which aids the
82:rhododaktylos eos
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607:Lord, Albert B.
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276:Oral poetry
217:Old English
112:type-scenes
66:oral poetry
62:Albert Lord
29:epic poetry
701:Categories
325:Adam Parry
287:References
690:Olifant,8
595:cite book
503:: p.16-17
337:Blum 2023
323:, p. 61.
203:Scildings
90:hexameter
692:, 29-50.
625:Speculum
497:Dundes,
463:Dundes,
265:See also
199:Hrothgar
145:Albanian
135:and the
252:guslars
241:guslars
187:Beowulf
157:Balkans
153:Serbian
149:Bosnian
712:Poetry
659:
616:
583:
569:(2005)
548:
527:
501:, 2003
469:: p.16
467:, 2003
432:6 July
423:
374:
367:Qur'an
139:. The
94:aoidos
557:2 May
225:Quran
657:ISBN
614:ISBN
601:link
581:ISBN
559:2019
546:ISBN
525:ISBN
434:2019
421:ISBN
372:ISBN
151:and
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