Lyrics & Knowledge Personal Pages Record Shop Auction Links Radio & Media Kids Membership Help
The Mudcat Cafesj



User Name Thread Name Subject Posted
Owen Woodson Folklore: A. B. Lord Centenary Today (4) RE: Folklore: A. B. Lord Centenary Today 16 Sep 12


Not as such. He collected epics in the Balkans, but you'd be hard pushed nowadays to find many epic singers in East Anglia or the Southern Appalachians.

He did however study Beowulf, which was hardly English language, but which does have some claim to being our only English epic.

Also, the oral-formulaic theory has spilled over into many other areas of oral transmission, not the least of which are the ballads. See for instance Peter Burke, Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe; David Buchan, The Ballad and the Folk; and Bill McCarthy, the Ballad Matrix.

But also see The Oral-Formulaic Theory of Balladry - A Rebuttal by Albert B Friedman.

Apologies if any of this is wrong or vague, but epic poetry is not something I've looked into for many years and it's still early morning in the Woodson household.

Just a thought. Millman Parry (Lord's predecessor in oral-formulaic theory) and Lord himself, influenced a number of younger oral epic scholars. But I'm wondering if there's ever been a full discussion of the Parry-Lord thesis, as it's also known. A set of conference papers perhaps.


Post to this Thread -

Back to the Main Forum Page

By clicking on the User Name, you will requery the forum for that user. You will see everything that he or she has posted with that Mudcat name.

By clicking on the Thread Name, you will be sent to the Forum on that thread as if you selected it from the main Mudcat Forum page.

By clicking on the Subject, you will also go to the thread as if you selected it from the original Forum page, but also go directly to that particular message.

By clicking on the Date (Posted), you will dig out every message posted that day.

Try it all, you will see.