" . . . excellent book . . . " —The Classical Outlook " . . . brief and readable . . . There is good tonic in these pages for the serious student of oral tradition . . . a remarkable book." —Asian Folklore Studies "The bibliography is a boon for students and faculty at any level who are curious about the nature, composition, and performance of oral poetry." —Choice " . . . concise, evolutionary account . . . " —Religious Studies Review "As ever, Professor Foley's conscientious scholarship and sound judgements combine to make a further substantial contribution to the field." —E. C. Hawkesworth, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London, The Slavonic Review "Foley is probably the only scholar who is in a position even to suggest the extent of what we should know to work in this area." —Speculum "Foley's survey stands as a fitting tribute to the achievements of Parry and Lord and as a sure guide to future productive work in the field." —Journal of American Folklore " . . . detailed and informative study . . . We are fortunate that John Foley chose to write this book." —Motif " . . . Theory of Oral Composition . . . detailed account written in an elegant style which could serve equally as a textbook for college and graduate students and as a reference tool for scholars already in the field." —Olifant "As an 'introductory history,' The Theory of Oral Composition accomplishes its purpose admirably. It has the capacity to arouse interest on the part of the uninitiated." —Anthropologica Presents the first history of the new field of oral-formulaic theory, which arose from the pioneering research of Milman Parry and Albert Lord on the Homeric poems.

A major addition to the literature of poetry, Edward Hirsch’s sparkling new work is a compilation of forms, devices, groups, movements, isms, aesthetics, rhetorical terms, and folklore—a book that all readers, writers, teachers, and students of poetry will return to over and over. Hirsch has delved deeply into the poetic traditions of the world, returning with an inclusive, international compendium. Moving gracefully from the bards of ancient Greece to the revolutionaries of Latin America, from small formal elements to large mysteries, he provides thoughtful definitions for the most important poetic vocabulary, imbuing his work with a lifetime of scholarship and the warmth of a man devoted to his art. Knowing how a poem works is essential to unlocking its meaning. Hirsch’s entries will deepen readers’ relationships with their favorite poems and open greater levels of understanding in each new poem they encounter. Shot through with the enthusiasm, authority, and sheer delight that made How to Read a Poem so beloved, A Poet’s Glossary is a new classic.

Drawing on many examples including an American slam poet, a Tibetan paper-singer, a South African praise-poet, and an ancient Greek bard (Homer) the author shows that although oral poetry predates writing it continues to be a vital culture-making and communications tool. Based on research on epics, folktales, lyrics, laments, charms, etc.--Back cover.

This volume presents essays by leading scholars on the nature of orality as represented by the Homeric poems, and the effect of the oral way of thinking on the subsequent literate and literary development of ancient Greek and Roman culture.

This collection brings together newly commissioned and cutting-edge essays on oral text and tradition ranging from the ancient and medieval world to the present day by an international group of leading oral theorists drawn from Europe and North America. Using a range of materials including the Bible, Greek epic, Beowulf, Old Norse and Old English riddles, and medieval music, the contributors collectively work to refine, challenge, and further advance contemporary Oral Theory, an interdisciplinary school of thought heavily influenced by John Miles Foley, whose work provides the jumping-off point for this volume. The book includes a useful introduction to the history of oral theory, and Foley's ground-breaking and influential work.

"Milman Parry's comparative study of Homer and Southslavic oral song had demonstrated the existence of an oral tradition behind and within the Homeric Epic, thus establishing an indisputable link between Homer and oral poetry. Yet its exact nature has remained a moot point. For equally indisputable is the fact of the coexistence of oral and literate features within the Homeric Epic. Thus not behaving as either a straight oral song or as a straight literate text tout court, the Homeric Epic calls into question the prevailing Parryist axiom of the oral Homer. The link between Homer and oral poetry has thus become an open question again: it is, in fact, the New Homeric Question that turns on the roles of orality and literacy in the genesis of the Homeric Epic.To clarify it this book experiments with a third term: postorality. As a postoral poet, having initially been trained as an oral bard absorbing the Hellenic oral tradition, Homer would have acquired literacy in the course of his career as an oral singer. It enabled him to widen, deepen, and refine his epic art, thereby giving rise to an epic as complex and unique, in terms of structure, characterization, and intellectual substance, as the Iliad."--

Discusses the oral tradition as a theory of literary composition and its applications to Homeric and medieval epic.

"The original idea of examining the writings of the Old Testament for evidence of oral formulaic composition grew out of a number of conversations held a few years ago with a friend, Donald F. Chapin, now Associate Professor of English at the University of Alberta. He was at the time attending a seminar offered by Professor J. B. Bessinger in which, among other things, the oral style of Old English was being considered. In the course of these conversations I was introduced to the work of Milman Parry, A. B. Lord, and F. P. Magoun, Jr. My first investigations of the Old Testament, begun while I was studying at the University of Bonn, were directed towards the prophetic writings, but the results were not encouraging. At this stage, I had the opportunity of discussing the matter briefly with Professor Martin Noth. It was on his suggestion that I turned to the biblicat psalms, and I soon found that they presented very suitable material for the sort of study I had in mind. Shortly after this, Lord's book The Singer of Tales appeared, and it provided an invaluable guide on almost all aspects of oral formulaic composition" -- Preface.

Ruth Finnegan's Oral Literature in Africa was first published in 1970, and since then has been widely praised as one of the most important books in its field. Based on years of fieldwork, the study traces the history of storytelling across the continent of Africa. This revised edition makes Finnegan's ground-breaking research available to the next generation of scholars. It includes a new introduction, additional images and an updated bibliography, as well as its original chapters on poetry, prose, "drum language" and drama, and an overview of the social, linguistic and historical background of oral literature in Africa. This book is the first volume in the World Oral Literature Series, an ongoing collaboration between OBP and World Oral Literature Project. A free online archive of recordings and photographs that Finnegan made during her fieldwork in the late 1960s is hosted by the World Oral Literature Project (http: //www.oralliterature.org/collections/rfinnegan001.html) and can also be accessed from publisher's website.