Knowra Oral-formulaic theory Oral-formulaic theory Oral-formulaic theory explains how oral poets compose and perform poetry using recurring verbal formulas and themes shaped to fit traditional patterns.
Formula (oral poetry) : A recurring group of words used in oral poetry under similar metrical conditions to express a particular idea. Formulas provide ready-made phrases that fit both a recurring meaning and the poem’s meter.
Milman Parry : An American classicist whose research on Homeric diction helped establish oral-formulaic theory. Parry identified recurring Homeric expressions as evidence of a systematic poetic tradition.
Homeric epics : The ancient Greek epic poems traditionally attributed to Homer, including the Iliad and the Odyssey. Their repeated phrases and scenes were central evidence in the theory’s formation.
Literary oralism : The view that features of oral style in written literature do not by themselves prove oral composition. It challenges the inference from formulaic style to composition in performance.
Theme (oral poetry) : A recurring narrative pattern or scene in oral poetry, such as a feast, a journey, or a hero’s arming. Themes supply larger narrative patterns alongside the theory’s smaller verbal formulas.
Albert Lord : An American folklorist who studied South Slavic singers and developed oral-formulaic theory with Milman Parry. Lord’s fieldwork connected formulaic composition with the practices of living performers.
Serbo-Croatian epic poetry : A tradition of South Slavic oral epic studied by Parry and Lord, often performed by guslari. Recordings of its singers let scholars compare repeated performances of the same song.
Oral-formulaic composition : A method of composing poetry through traditional formulas and themes during oral performance. This is the compositional process that the theory proposes, rather than the theory explaining it.
Traditional phraseology : The inherited vocabulary, expressions, and stylistic patterns shared within a poetic tradition. A poet draws on a tradition’s shared language rather than composing every phrase from scratch.
Homeric question : The debate over the authorship, composition, and transmission of the Homeric epics. The theory offered an account of how the Homeric poems could arise from oral tradition.
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