Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

Walther Wünsch. Heldensänger in Südosteuropa. Arbeiten aus dem Institut für Lautforschung an der Universität Berlin, nr. 4. Leipzig: Otto Harrassowitz.

After a brief general discussion of Balkan folksong, he describes the oral heroic narrative and singers of the South Slavs, with special attention to techniques of improvisation and the instrument (gusle). Differentiates various demographically defined traditions (Dinaric-Montenegrin and Bulgarian-Central Balkan) and compares the Ukrainian duma and Russian bylina.
Area: SC, RU, UK, MU, CP

Walther Wünsch. "Metriki i jeziki oblik guslarske epske recitacije." Prilozi prouavanja narodne poezije, 5:97-101.

Argues for the unity of musical and linguistic features in the guslar's performance of oral epic.
Area: SC, MU

Walther Wünsch. "Fiziko-teknika merenja jednog govorenog i pevanog epskog deseterca." Prilozi prouavanja narodne poezije, 5:186-90.

Compares spoken and sung decasyllables from SC oral epic to determine the ratio between speaking and the spoken and instrumental performance as a whole. Shows through diagrams the primacy of the melodic line in the guslar's technique.
Area: SC, MU

Arthur A. Wachsler. "Grettir's Fight with a Bear: Another Neglected Analogue of Beowulf in the Grettis Saga Asmundarsonar." English Studies, 5:381-90.

Describes similarities in the attacks of Grendel and those of a bear in Grettis Saga and concludes that the evidence "should lead to a reappraisal of the relevance of the Grettis Saga for the understanding of the Beowulf poet's use of folktales found in the Norse traditions" (390).
Area: ON, OE, CP

Henry T. Wade-Gery. The Poet of the Iliad. The J.H. Gray Lectures for 1949. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

In the section on "Oral Technique and Writing" (pp. 38-41), he argues strenuously that "the Iliad is what it is because of the impact upon an oral technique of a brand-new literacy invented by the Greeks themselves" (p. 39). This concept of a literate Homer is necessary to his view of the carefully wrought nature of the poem and thus informs the entire book. Although he accepts many of Parry's notions about formulaic diction and posits an original oral tradition, he assigns the Iliad as a work of art to an individual genius. See also the section on the alphabet (pp. 9-14).
Area: AG

John D. Waiko. "Binandere Oral Tradition: Sources and Problems." In Oral Tradition in Melanesia. Ed. by Donald Denoon. Port Moresby, New Guinea: University of Papua, New Guinea and Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies. pp. 11-30.

Describes the oral tradition of the Binandere people of Melanesia and discusses methodologies of fieldwork.
Area: ML

P. Walcot, P. "The Composition of the Works and Days." Revue des études grecques, 74:1-19.

Conceiving of oral epic style as a group of patterns (most significantly, ring-composition), he judges the Works and Days a written composition because it does not strictly adhere to the oral techniques. Feels that "though Homer may well have been responsible for the reduction to a written form of what before had been an entirely oral tradition of poetry, it is with Hesiod that we are left with a feeling that the adoption of writing among the Greeks not only permitted a more ambitious scheme of composition, but also had a profound influence on the shape of individual verses" (16).
Area: AG

Ronald A. Waldron. "Oral-Formulaic Technique and Middle English Alliterative Poetry." Speculum, 32:792-804.

Through an examination of fourteenth-century alliterative verse, Whallon finds, in the appearance of formulas and formulaic systems fulfilling metrical rather than aesthetic requirements, the "remains of an oral technique embedded in written literature" (794).
Area: ME

Roger M. Walker. Tradition and Technique in "El Libro del Cavallero Zifar." Colección Támesis, Serie A, Monografias, 36. London: Tamesis.

A structural, stylistic, and literary-historical study of a prose romance heavily influenced by both Muslim Arabic and Christian Latin cultures. Contends that the style derives from (1) the techniques of the epic poets, by the early fourteenth century largely taken over by learned writers and (2) a new series of formulas stemming from the impact of oriental wisdom literature. Shows that both formulas and motifs are varied according to usage and desired effect. Maintains that the Zifar "stands as a bridge between the dying epic and clerecía traditions and the nascent novela de caballerías" (p. 224).
Area: HI

Warren S. Walker. "Cooper's Use of the Oral Tradition." In James Fenimore Cooper: His Country and His Art (Papers from the 1980 Conference at State University College of New York, Oneonta and Cooperstown). Ed. George A. Test. Oneonta: Department of English, State University of New York. pp. 24-39.

Maintains that Cooper employs oral folk material in a number of ways: "sometimes it adds texture, a dimension of realism in otherwise romantic works; sometimes it provides comic relief; at still other times it is used thematically" (p. 24). Offers examples of the different kinds of oral genres found in the novels (folk speech, folk character-types, supernatural events, and a "salamagundi" category) as well as a bibliography of apposite studies.
Area: US, FK

Franklin M. Waltman. Concordance to Poema de Mio Cid. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.

In his brief "Preface" (pp. vii-xiii), he finds the presence of formulas throughout the poem to be the best evidence of its oral character and argues for single authorship. Each entry consists of the word concorded, the line number, a one-line context for each occurrence, and the number of occurrences. Indices of diversification and standard deviation are also provided for statistically significant entries.
Area: HI, CC

Franklin M. Waltman. "Formulaic Expression and Unity of Authorship in the Poema de Mio Cid." Hispania, 56:569-78.

Through a complete analysis of formulaic expressions in the poem, he finds an overall consistency of formulaic diction, with no significant distinctions between the two or three main sections (often accredited to different authors). The cumulative evidence points to a single literary poet working with materials inherited from a prior oral tradition. Presents formulaic data for two sample 20-line passages.
Area: HI

Franklin M. Waltman. "Synonym Choice in the CMC." Hispania, 57:452-61.

Contends that his study of synonyms in the scheme proposed by Menéndez Pidal (1961) disproves the theory of two poets for the Cid.
Area: HI

Franklin M. Waltman. "Tagmemic Analysis and Unity of Authorship in the CMC." Revista de estudios hispánicos, 9:451-69.

Another in his series of articles on unity of authorship. Argues for a single author on the basis of consistent usage of clause patterns and their constituents.
Area: HI

Franklin M. Waltman. "C.L.A.S. and the Cantar de Mio Cid." Computers and the Humanities, 10:145-52.

Using Borden and Watts' "Computerized Language Analysis System" (Computers and the Humanities, 5 [1971], 129-42), he compares the three cantares of the Cid according to a variety of criteria: distribution of formulas and formulaic expressions, mean word and sentence length, sentence type, frequency of certain function words, and theme. Finds no significant differences among the three parts, a fact arguing against a plurality of authors.
Area: HI

Franklin M. Waltman. "Divided Heroic Vision or Dual-Authorship in the Poema de Mío Cid?" Romance Notes, 17:84-88.

Using Deyermond 1965 and Lord 1960, he argues for single authorship of the Cid (contra Menéndez Pidal 1961). Cites the Yugoslav oral singer's method of thematic composition in support of his thesis that the poet either wished to emphasize certain aspects of the characters at different times or was creating a pluralistic heroic role.
Area: HI, SC, CP

Franklin M. Waltman. "Verb Tenses in the Dialogue Portions of the Poema de Mío Cid." Kentucky Romance Quarterly, 24:15-23.

Following his 1973 study of formulaic diction in which he showed how phraseology is consistent over the three cantares of the poem, he illustrates the regularity of selected verb tenses in the dialogue portion of the Cid. Feels that this consistency "tends to point toward the theory of only one person being responsible for the revision or compilation of the Cantar de Mío Cid, basing the poem on oral tradition or using a then existent manuscript" (23).
Area: HI

Franklin M. Waltman. "Parallel Expressions in the Cantar de Mio Cid." Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 55:1-3.

Identifies three types of parallel expressions (or coordinating half-lines): (1) corresponding and complementary elements, (2) normal opposites, and (3) extreme opposites. Emphasizes their function within the poet's artistic design.
Area: HI

Eda L. Walton. "Navajo Song Patterning." Journal of American Folklore, 43:105-18.

With the opening assertion that "Navajo patterns are as important in poetic composition to the Navajo Indian's mind as is any English verse-form to an English poet" (105), she proceeds to study parallelism of various kinds in oral material, many of which techniques would be considered formulaic by later investigators.
Area: AI

Ching-Hsien Wang. The Bell and the Drum: Shih Ching as Formulaic Poetry in an Oral Tradition. Berkeley: University of California Pres.

After introductory remarks on the ancient lyrics of Shih Ching, its critical history, and oral-formulaic theory, he illustrates the pervasive presence of formulas and themes in the texts, using computer-assisted analysis to establish profiles of word, phrase, line, stanza, and poem. Makes the case for a "transition" period during which oral-formulaic devices were employed by lettered poets.
Area: CH

Ching-Hsien Wang. "Towards Defining a Chinese Heroism." Journal of the American Oriental Society, 95:25-35.

In the course of answering the critical judgment that there is no true epic in classical Chinese literature by showing that the poetry advocates a deliberate avoidance of arms, warfare, and therefore heroic action, he notes that many of the oral traditional patterns of the Shih Ching (see Wang 1974) continue to characterize the written poetry of later periods.
Area: CH

Donald Ward. "On the Poets and Poetry of the Indo-Europeans." Journal of Indo-European Studies, 1:127-44.

Cites evidence that "there was a well-established tradition of composing and performing songs of ridicule in... Vedic, Greek, Roman, Irish, and Germanic [society]" and that "this task was entrusted to a group of professional singer-poets" (139). Shows further that these songs and their singers were considered magical and posits an IE tradition from which all derive.
Area: IE, SK, AG, LT, OI, GM, CP

Donald Ward. "The Origin of the Ballad: Urban Setting or Rural Setting?" In Ballads and Ballad Research (Selected Papers of the International Conference on Nordic and Anglo-American Ballad Research, University of Washington, Seattle, May 2-6, 1977). Ed. Patricia Conroy. Seattle: University of Washington Press. pp. 46-57.

Believes there is enough evidence to infer that the oral tradition of the ballad emerged as early as the twelfth century in a new urban culture where the people demanded "new art and entertainment forms" (55), and where traveling musicians and "the urban trade centers were instrumental in the dissemination of the songs" (55).
Area: FB, CP

Elizabeth A. Warner. "Pushkin in the Russian Folk-Plays." In Oral Literature: Seven Essays. Ed. Joseph J. Duggan. Edinburgh and New York: Scottish Academic Press and Barnes and Noble, 1975. [= Forum for Modern Language Studies, 10, iii:pp. 101-7.]

Illustrates how literary materials found their way back into oral tradition with Pushkin entering the folk tradition. Characteristic changes include improvisation and the remaking of verses from the source (literary) play on the pattern of the folk meter.
Area: RU

Sean Warner. "The Alphabet: An Innovation and its Diffusion." Vetus Testamentum, 30:81-90.

Argues, mainly on sociocultural grounds, against the assumption that the advent of the alphabet brought widespread literacy to Israel. Notes also the probability that "the availability and type of writing materials in Israel had an adverse effect upon its literacy rate" (88).
Area: BI

P. Wathelet. "Les Verbes ejruvw et e[rumai dans les formules de l'épopée." In Studia Mycenaea: Proceedings of the Mycenaean Symposium (Brno April 1966). Ed. Antonín Bartonek. Opera Universitatis Purkynianae Brunensis Facultas Philosophica, 127. Brno: J.-E. Purkyn'. pp. 105-11.

Revises e[rumai ("protéger") to agree with the proposed cognate ejruvw ("tirer") on the basis of formulaic usage and Mycenaean evidence.
Area: AG

Jeanne Wathelet-Willem. "A propos de la technique formulaire dans les plus anciennes chansons de geste." In Mélanges de línguistique romane et de philologie médiévale offerts à M. Maurice Delbouille, vol 2. Ed. Jean Renson. Gembloux: Duculot. pp. 705-27.

Looks at a selection of formulas in three chansons de geste (Chanson de Roland, Chanson de Guillaume, and Gormont et Isembart), finding wide distribution, clustering, and general flexibility, the last of which she attributes to a common theme.
Area: OF

Jeanne Wathelet-Willem. "L'Epée dans les plus anciennes chansons de geste: Etude de vocabulaire." In Mélanges offerts à René Crozet à l'occasion de son soixante-dixième anniversaire, vol. 1. Ed. Pierre Gallais and Yves-Jean Riou. Poitiers: Société d'Etudes Médiévales. pp. 435-49.

A study of formulaic language involving the épée, proper names attributed to it, the synonym brant, and its chief epithets (bone, bele, clartet, cler, a or, helt, punt, nu, forbi, acier, brun, sanglant, longue, lée, trenchant, etc). Considers the Chanson de Roland, Chanson de Guillaume, Gormont et Isembart, Charroi de Nîmes, and Couronnement de Louis. After an exhaustive report, she hopes to have shown that "même en employant la technique formulaire, nos plus anciennes chansons ne procèdent pas mécaniquement, mais savent utiliser les formules avec un sens de l'opportunite_dont la subtilité nous échappe souvent" (p. 449).
Area: OF

Calvert Watkins. "Response" to Kiparsky 1976. In Oral Literature and the Formula. Ed. Benjamin A. Stolz and Richard S. Shannon. Ann Arbor: Center for the Coordination of Ancient and Modern Studies, University of Michigan. pp. 107-11.

Connects the preservation of oral material by rote memory in Indic, Italic, and Celtic with a priestly class in each tradition. Questions Kiparsky's distinction between fixed and flexible formulas, since diachronically the surface structure had to be generated at some point, and brings up the equivalence of sentence and verse line. He would collapse fixed and flexible formulas into a single category and see the deep structure underlying them as the theme: the formula is defined as "the verbal and grammatical device in oral literature for encoding and transmitting a given theme or interaction of themes, with the repetition or potential repetition assuring the long-term preservation of the surface structure, the wording" (p. 110).
Area: IE, CP, TH

Calvert Watkins "Aspects of Indo-European Poetics." In Edgar C. Polomé, ed. The Indo-Europeans in the Fourth and Third Millennia. Ann Arbor: Karoma Publishers. pp. 104-121.

A survey of the features of Indo-European poetics, including discussion of the role of the poet and poetry in an oral society, formal aspects such as the poet's techniques, and the character of poetic language and message. Focuses on the formulaic element in the poetry and proposes that formulas are "different realizations" (112) of a synchronic thematic deep-structure text and of a diachronic prototext. Explicates the relationship between oral poetic transmission of societal knowledge and poetic definitions couched in formulas.
Area: IE

William R. Watters. Formula Criticism and the Poetry of the Old Testament. Beiheft zur Zeitschrift für alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 138. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

Begins with a review of the history of oral-formulaic studies, in particular formulaic diction, and of the discovery of word-pairs in Semitic studies. Finds word-pairs "the dominating element of formulaic Hebrew poetry" (p. 40), but notes that they occur in both oral and written material. Discusses the role of word-pairs in transmission and composition (pp. 60-80), in the creativity of poets (pp. 81-91), and with respect to the poetic line (pp. 92-116, with a direct comparison to the Homeric epithet). Considers the usefulness of formulaic criticism in dating, authenticating, relating, and repairing texts. Concludes generally that the various formulaic theories require "a number of alterations before they fit the textual evidence and could be justly called a methodology" (p. 146), but that they nonetheless open up new ways to relate and emend texts and to understand the poetic meter.
Area: BI, HB, AG, CP

Ann C. Watts. The Lyre and the Harp: A Comparative Reconsideration of Oral Tradition in Homer and Old English Epic Poetry. New Haven: Yale University Press. Rpt. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1980.

Describes what she calls the "imperfect application" of Parry and Lord's discoveries about Homer to OE poetry, criticizing the lack of rigor in definition, and viewing the practice of analogy as dubious. Redefines the formula and formulaic system (p. 90, p. 144, respectively) to account for OE prosody. Feels that the demonstration of orality in OE verse is finally unconvincing.
Area: OE, AG, CP

Ruth H. Webber. Formulistic Diction in the Spanish Ballad. University of California Publications in Modern Philology, 34, no. 2:175-277.

Looks at the formulaic frequency in the Primavera collection of Spanish ballads under the headings of (1) introduction (general, to dialogue, to action), (2) dialogue (salutations, miscellaneous), (3) action, (4) adjectival, (5) adverbial, and (6) the remainder. Notes that the couplet is the basic unit of thought and that verse-final assonance influences the frequency and choice of formulas. Shows how formulas in the romancero "express the essential ideas and acts of balladry in such a way as to fill out the requisite line length and supply the required assonance" (213). Also studies repetition and parallelism both within the line and over more than one line. Considers the impact of formulaic analysis on problems of origin, dating, transmission, and the like. Views composition and performance, in accordance with the Parry-Lord model, as the same process "of combining remembered terms rather than reciting from memory" (253). Also champions traditional diction as more than mechanical by seeing the poet as selecting from time-tried expressions of beauty as well as of usefulness. The first application of Parry-Lord theory to Hispanic verse.
Area: HI, FB

Ruth H. Webber. "Ramón Menéndez Pidal and the Romancero." Romance Philology, 5:15-25.

An annotated bibliography of works through 1949 by the great Spanish scholar on the romancero. Includes entries on the questions of individualism and origins.
Area: HI, BB

Ruth H. Webber. "Un aspecto estilístico del CMC." Anuario de Estudios Medievales, 2:485-96.

A stylistic study of the function of names and attendant epithets in the Cid. Concentrates on references to the Cid, with some attention to secondary characters such as "el rey Alfonso." Argues that the use of names alone and in combination forms, often of two or more names and epithets, added to the variety of the minstrel's lines, especially in the second hemistich where they aided the manipulation of rhymes. Such formulas facilitated the poet's task of composition (seen as a process of selection) while contributing to the art of the poem.
Area: HI

Ruth H. Webber. "The Diction of the Roncesvalles Fragment." In Homenaje a Rodríguez-Moñino: Estudios de erudición que le ofrecen sus amigos o discípulos hispanistas norteamericanos, vol. 2. Madrid: Editorial Castalia. pp. 311-21.

Noting that a greater flexibility in Spanish epic meter results in greater formulaic variability, she compares diction in the "scant one hundred imperfect verses" (311) of the Roncesvalles fragment against the Cid in terms of proper names and epithets, action formulas, periphrastic constructions, formulas of reaction, expressions of grief, formulas of dialogue, and formulas of the singer's address to his audience. Also discusses line and hemistich patterning and concludes that the language of the fragment is 80% formulaic and that 80% of the lines are unenjambed.
Area: HI

Ruth H. Webber. "Narrative Organization of the Cantar de Mio Cid." Olifant: A Publication of the Société Rencesvals, American-Canadian Branch, 1, ii:21-34.

Breaks the Cid down into a sequence of themes (as defined by Lord 1960: pp. 68-98) and examines the relationship between theme and laisse structure. Appends a seven-page thematic outline.
Area: HI

Ruth H. Webber. "Prolegomena to the Study of the Narrative Structure of the Hispanic Ballad." In Ballads and Ballad Research (Selected Papers of the International Conference on Nordic and Anglo-American Ballad Research, University of Washington, Seattle, May 2-6, 1977). Ed. Patricia Conroy. Seattle: University of Washington Press. pp. 221-30.

Examines the narrative structures of three romances (Gerineldo, La boda estorbada, and the ballad of the Cid and the Moorish king Búcar) in Hispanic balladry to determine how and at what levels ballad stories can be analyzed. Calls for a separate ballad morphology for each oral tradition before a comparative treatment can be developed.
Area: HI, FB

Ruth H. Webber. "Ballad Openings: Narrative and Formal Function." In El Romancero hoy: Poética, vol. 3 (Romancero y poésia oral). Ed. Diego Catalán, Samuel G. Armistead, and Antonio Sánchez Romeralo. 2deg. Coloquio Internacional, University of California, Davis. Madrid: Cátedra Seminario Menéndez Pidal. pp. 55-64.

Focusing on the Gerineldo (of which there exist more than 850 versions), La Condesita (323 versions) and El Cid y Búcar, she documents the nature of initial elements: "the romance will always have a standard functional opening of relative stability that identifies it, provides essential information, initiates the action and, at the same time, has certain formal qualities that make it readily recognizable as such" (p. 64).
Area: HI, FB, CP

Ruth H. Webber. "Formulaic Language in the Mocedades de Rodrigo." Hispanic Review, 48:195-211.

Conducts a formulaic analysis to determine not only density, but also the extent to which formulas comprise a coherent traditional system within the poem. Finds much evidence of modification of traditional formulas throughout the poem, a fact that supports the theory of interpolations in an original text. Supports Armistead's (1978) and Deyermond's (1978) contentions that the Mocedades derives ultimately from a lost cantar de gesta which was reworked by a learned poet and composed to be read.
Area: HI

Ruth H. Webber. "Lenguaje tradicional: Epopeya y romancero." In Actas del Sexto Congreso Internacional de Hispanistas (celebrado en Toronto del 22 al 26 de Agosta de 1977). Toronto: Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of Toronto. pp. 779-82.

A corrective aimed at the treatment of all traditional Spanish poetry as essentially identical despite chronological and generic differences. Distinguishes between "los cantares de geste" and "los romances," using the Cid and two romances as examples. Studies the development of formulas in the poetic language of Spain.
Area: HI

Ruth H. Webber. "Historicidad y tradicionalidad en el Cantar de Mio Cid." In Actas del Septimo Congreso de la Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas (celebrado en Venecia del 25 al 30 de Agosto de 1980): Publicadas por Giuseppe Bellini. Rome: Bulzoni. pp. 585-90.

Re-examines the problem of historicity in the "cantares de gesta," especially in the Cid, to unravel the current controversy. Gives three definitions of historicity: the presentation of historical reality, the poeticizing of history, and the novelization of history by a literate poet. Notes historical discrepancies in the Cid and asserts that available evidence confirms the second of these, as proposed by Menéndez Pidal, although the poem also contradicts history. Argues that the mythologizing process can supplant historical fact, especially where changes follow folkloric patterns. Compare Lord 1970.
Area: HI

Ruth H. Webber. "El Roncesvalles: Lenguaje y tematica tradicionales." In VII Congreso de la Société Rencesvals. Pamplona: Institucion Principe de Viana, Diputacion Foral de Navarra. pp. 547-52.

A study of the planctus theme in the Roncesvalles fragment in the context of the Chanson de Roland, Siete Infantes de Salas, and the Cantar de Mio Cid. Finds the theme to be universal, but notes that certain elements (especially the fainting of mourners and others under emotional stress) are particularly typical and frequent in the Spanish and Scandinavian traditions. Suggests that this theme belongs to the pan-European narrative tradition but is especially highly developed in the Iberian tradition.
Area: HI, CP

Phillip Webber. "Preliterate Formulaic Patterns Suggested by Old English Earfo[[pi]]e. Michigan Germanic Studies, 9:109-12

A study of several occurrences of old English word earfo[[pi]]e ("hardship") in the Anglo-Saxon poetic corpus, concluding that the word's usage, especially in E-type half-lines, may be a "fossil trace" from a "period antedating the production of written records" and that "it is also possible that we are dealing, in some instances, with non-formulaic half-lines, in which the poet senses and avails himself of the rhythmic valence' established for a word by previous_and perhaps indeed ancient_usage" (111).
Area: OE

T.B.L. Webster. "On the Track of Mycenaean Poetry." Classica et Mediaevalia, 17:149-61.

Available evidence suggests that "Mycenaean poets sang in double-short rhythm of their divine wanaktes [kings, leaders] in peace and war, of their houses, furniture, and beautiful objects, and of their fighting and their armour" (157) and that their poetry was receptive to new customs, equipment, historical events, and stories from abroad to place alongside the traditional heritage.
Area: AG

T.B.L. Webster. "Early and Late in Homeric Diction." Eranos, 54:34-48.

A provisional study of Mycenaean, pre-Migration, and post-Migration forms, with the aim of distinguishing three stages of poetic diction corresponding to what is known of history, material culture, and art. Describes formulas putatively belonging to each period.
Area: AG

T.B.L. Webster. From Mycenae to Homer. London: Methuen. 2nd ed. with corrs., 1964.

Within a study that seeks to illustrate how "Homer looks forward to classical Greece and backwards to the Mycenaean world" (p. 284), he considers formulas in Eastern poetry and (hypothetically) in Mycenaean to have been in three categories: "correspondence formulae, operation orders, and refrains" (p. 240; see further pp. 70-76). Feels that these techniques survive in Homer. Also treats typical scenes (pp. 239-58), seeing each as a sequence of actions inherited by Homer together with its expression in formulaic language and attempting to date certain aspects of exemplary scenes. Reconciles oral composition and the size of the Iliad and Odyssey by distinguishing "static" and "dynamic" elements of composition and making analogies to Geometric vase-painting. Offers hypotheses (pp. 267-75) on performance, suggesting a festival context (the Panathenaea) and a team of reciters for public performance. Assumes that writing was developed just before Homer and first used to advantage by the Iliad poet. Feels that the Iliad and Odyssey were composed for two different festivals and nearly contemporaneously.
Area: AG

John Webster. "Oral Form and Written Craft in Spenser's Faerie Queene." Studies in English Literature, 16:75-93.

Traces the "illusion of an oral style" (77) to (1) the formulaic use of epithets generically without attenuation to context, (2) traditional thematic patterns in the narrative, and (3) inconsistencies of narrative and character. These qualities create audience expectation and contribute to a "double reading": the poem is complete without interpretation (as an oral tale would be) and yet reacts sensitively to closer analysis. Offers examples of aesthetic features of oral style. Compare Trousdale (1981) on Shakespeare and Ong (1965) on Tudor prose.
Area: BR

Dorothea Wender. "Homer, Avdo Medjedovic, and the Elephant's Child." American Journal of Philology, 98:327-47.

An attempt at a comparative examination of Medjedovic's The Wedding of Smailagic Meho (SCHS 3-4) and the Homeric epics. The approach is wholly amateurish: the SC material is read only in English translation and without the least knowledge of its tradition. An obvious prejudice against Parry-Lord oral theory.
Area: AG, SC, CP

Dorothea Wender. The Last Scenes of the Odyssey. Mnemosyne, Bibliotheca Classica Batava, Supplementum 52. Leiden: E.J. Brill.

In Chapter 2 ("On Oral and Other Matters," pp. 5-9), she states_without any attempt at proof_that Homer was a literate poet who used oral traditional techniques. Argues, therefore, that "when we say that the Odyssey contains features of traditional heroic song, we do not, however, give up our right to perform literary criticism on it" (p. 8). This section, as well as her overall thesis that the conclusion of the Odyssey is "genuine," lacks logical and rigorous methodology.
Area: AG

Edward F. Wente. "Egyptian Make Merry' Songs Reconsidered." Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 21:118-28.

In making the case for the secular nature of surviving epicurean songs, he describes "a common stock of phrases from which the singer could draw upon. He was privileged to alter these slightly if he so desired or to add to them. This is a form of extemporizing such as we might expect in the case of a wandering minstrel." (128).
Area: EG

Egon Werlich. "Der westgermanische Skop: Der Ursprung des Sangerstandes in semasiologischer und etymologischer Sicht." Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie, 86:352-75.

Contends that the two terms wobora and scop, often used for the OE singer of tales, recall an earlier West Germanic singer. Explores the IE and Germanic reflexes of both words. OE gleoman, leowyrhta (cp. OHG liudari), and OHG leodslakkeo, on the other hand, were later coinages for description of the secular function of singer-poets.
Area: OE, OHG, GM, IE, CP

John O. West. "Jack Thorp and John Lomax: Oral or Written Transmission?" Western Folklore, 26:113-18.

Discusses some of the difficulties associated with evaluating the collection of American folksongs by Lomax, with emphasis on the editing of oral texts before publication.
Area: US, FB

Martin L. West. "Epica." Glotta, 44:135-48.

In arguing that Homer could not have been aware of abstract patterns of prosody, he notes (with reference to Lord 1960) that the SC guslari often have no idea of what the modern critic or editor means by a verse (138-39).
Area: AG, SC, CP

Martin L. West. "The Singing of Homer and the Modes of Early Greek Music." Journal of Hellenic Studies, 101:113-29.

A thorough consideration of terminology, the rhapsode-citharode problem, the instrument, development of scales, performance, possible patterns of melody, and the analogy to the musical structures used by Yugoslav guslari (the transcription of Salih Ugljanin's Ropstvo by Bartok in SCHS 1: pp. 437-62). Concludes that "Homeric singing' was truly singing, in that it was based on definite notes and intervals, but that it was at the same time a stylized form of speech, the rise and fall of the voice being governed by the melodic accent of the words" (115). Posits a four-stringed phorminx with the tuning e-f-a-d' used to generate regular melodic patterns that would reinforce the vocal line and continue during vocal pauses. Postulates a performance beginning with an instrumental flourish (anabolé), broken by intervals of vocal rest, and perhaps lineated by brief instrumental sections after each line; notes that these features also characterize the guslar's performance. Includes a hypothetical reconstruction of lines 1-6 of the Iliad (123-24).
Area: AG, MU

L.M.C. Weston. "The Language of Magic in Two Old English Metrical Charms." Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 86:176-86.

Discusses the interrelationship of the poetics of Wi Færstice and the Nine Herbs Charms and their magical purpose, addressing specifically their functional aesthetics which, through the use of rhythm, paradigmatic repetition, and fragmentation of action, combines ritual and poetry in such a manner as to alter the consciousness of the participants to produce a type of magical thought which "triggers changes in the healer, who with increased force of will causes changes in the physical world by non-physical means" (186).
Area: OE

William Whallon. "The Homeric Epithets." Yale Classical Studies, 17:97-142.

Interested in illustrating the literary value of certain Homeric epithets. Discusses (1) the epithet as a metrical device, (2) the major epithets and their significance, and (3) the relationship between the metrical and literary functions of the epithets.
Area: AG

William Whallon. "The Diction of Beowulf." Publications of the Modern Language Association, 76:309-19.

Reacts against a mechanistic view of formulaic diction by asserting the possibility of aesthetic control (irony, humor, etc.). Feels that violations of Parry's principle of thrift in OE verse indicate the relative youth of the OE poetic tradition.
Area: OE

William Whallon. "Formulaic Poetry in the Old Testament." Comparative Literature, 15:1-14.

Examines the Scandinavian claim of an oral tradition behind the poetry of the Old Testament. Sees Hebraic parallelism as a prosodic requisite analogous to the AG hexameter or OE alliterative line and then identifies the participating synonyms as part of a formulaic network. Makes numerous references to AG and OE formulas, remarking that "the Old Testament combines nouns; the Iliad modifies them; Beowulf supplants them" (2). Interprets his sampling of diction as evidence of a "stylistic heritage" (13) and of oral transmission, but adds that writing may have played a role in the evolution of surviving texts.
Area: BI, HB, AG, OE, CP

William Whallon. "Formulas for Heroes in the Iliad and in Beowulf." Modern Philology, 63:95-104.

Maintains that AG heroes have formulaic epithets true to their individual character but not necessarily appropriate to the particular context, while Anglo-Saxon heroes have formulaic epithets true to their generic character.
Area: AG, OE, CP

William Whallon. "The Idea of God in Beowulf." Publications of the Modern Language Association, 80:19-23.

Claims that the diction of the poem is not nearly so Christianized as commonly assumed, that the old epithets for God must still have carried some traditional, pre-Christian connotations.
Area: OE

William Whallon. "The Shield of Ajax." Yale Classical Studies, 19:5-36.

Taking his cue from the phrases savko" hjuvte puvrgon and savko" ejptaboveion, he discusses the terms sákos and aspís in the Iliad, with emphasis on their virtually synonymous meaning (as far as can be discovered) and their associated epithets. Also examines the formulaic role of Ajax's epithet telamwvnio", hypothesizing that once this term was institutionally applied to Ajax as a traditional character, it "affected his epic role" (36).
Area: AG

William Whallon. "Old Testament Poetry and Homeric Epic." Comparative Literature, 18:113-31.

Argues (1) that Old Testament and Homeric poetry are oral-formulaic, recalling the functional equivalence among the OT word-pair, AG formulaic epithet, and OE kenning from Whallon 1963; (2) that the proper context of many OT phrases is oral traditional; (3) that OT poetry has a single, uniform style ascribable to oral tradition; and (4) that "on the basis of style, the Hebraic mind or world view cannot be distinguished from the intelligence behind the Odyssey or Iliad" (113).
Area: BI, HB, AG, CP

William Whallon. Formula, Character, and Context: Studies in Homeric, Old English, and Old Testament Poetry. Publications of the Center for Hellenic Studies. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Contends (1) that Homeric epithets are true to individual character (without questioning their usefulness); (2) that the epithets influenced overall characterization in the Iliad and Odyssey, in other words that "if the epithets were not usually determined by their contexts, they may now and then have determined those contexts" (p. 69); (3) that kennings for Beowulf often relate closely to their context but violate Parry's law of thrift or economy; (4) that the poetic diction of Beowulf had more continuity than is generally acknowledged with the Germanic or pre-Christian stories and ethos for which it served as a vehicle; (5) that OT poetic diction is largely traditional; and (6) that OT poetry "refers only vaguely to its context" (p. 185) and that "Jesus may be regarded as an oral poet because he used formulas that were to every appearance developed for the making of poetry in an oral culture, and also because the prose context of his poetry seems to say that he composed by ear and mouth rather than by eye and hand" (p. 208). An appendix suggests further directions in oral literature research.
Area: AG, OE, BI, HB, OF, CP

William Whallon. "Who Wrote Down the Formulaic Poem?" In Actes du Ve Congrès de l'Association Internationale de Litterature Comparee. Ed. Nikola Banasevic. Belgrade and Amsterdam: Beogradski Grafiki Zavod and Swets & Zeitlinger. pp. 469-72.

Reviews the evidence for and against Lord's theory of oral dictation (1953a) as it applies to the Homeric, OE, OF, and Biblical traditions. Suggests tabulating the breaches of formulaic thrift as an index to textual strata and the activity of literary interpolators.
Area: AG, OE, BI, OF, CP

Joshua Whatmough. "OSPER OMEROS FESI." American Journal of Archeology, 2nd ser., 52:45-50.

On the basis of the observable multidialectal makeup of Homeric language, he argues ardently against the Unitarian hypothesis of a single author for the Iliad and Odyssey and in favor of a long tradition of poets and poems. Cites Parry's work on formulaic structure and oral poetry as proving a spoken descent.
Area: AG

Richard E. Whitaker. A Concordance of the Ugaritic Literature. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

A key-word-in-context concordance of all Ugaritic alphabetic texts published in the standard editions, produced in transliteration and collated by computer.
Area: UG, CC

Richard E. Whitaker. "Response." In Oral Tradition and Old Testament Studies. Ed. Robert C. Culley. Special issue of Semeia, 5, i:107-10.

An overview of the articles in Culley 1976a, with a commentary on general problems in the identification of oral poetry and in the application of Parry-Lord theory to Hebrew and Ugaritic poetry.
Area: BI, HB, UG, CP

Frederick Whitehead. "La Poésie epique et la contrainte metrique." In Société Rencesvals, IVe Congrès International (Heidelberg, 28 août-2 septembre 1967): Actes et Mémoires. Ed. Erich Köhler, Studia Romanica, Heft 14. Heidelberg: Carl Winter. pp. 117-19. "Discussion," p. 119.

Understands formulaic language as a set of lexical solutions to metrical problems: "une heureuse solution d'un probleme metrique tombe dans le domaine public" (p. 119). Feels that a traditional Kunstsprache is evidence of oral tradition, along the classic Parry-Lord lines.
Area: OF

Dorothy Whitelock. The Audience of "Beowulf." Oxford: Clarendon Press. Rpt. with corrs., 1958 et seq.

A historical and cultural study that assumes a learned and Christian poet who could rely on an audience familiar not only with Biblical materials but also with commentaries upon those materials. Although she sees oral recital as a possibility, she does not necessarily credit the audience with a prior acquaintance with the story.
Area: OE

Cedric H. Whitman. Homer and the Heroic Tradition. Rpt. New York: Norton.

A critical study of Homer's art that is founded on oral theory but which fully engages historical, cultural, and archaeological evidence and questions surrounding the epics. Includes sections on memory, historical context, the role of writing, the analogy between Geometric pottery design and epic structure, formulaic structure and meaning, the nature of the epic medium as a vehicle for artistic expression (in the formation of which the individual Homer is said to have played a crucial role), the evolution of Achilles, teleological concerns, and structural analyses of the two poems (with attention to ring-composition).
Area: AG

F.H. Whitman. "The Meaning of Formulaic' in Old English Verse Composition." Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 76:529-37.

Details what he considers imprecision and inconsistencies in existing definitions of the formula. Suggests that the formulaic aspect of a phrase lies in the use of "empty words" and so carries little aesthetic value.
Area: OE

G. Widengren. "Oral Tradition and Written Literature among the Hebrews in the Light of Arabic Evidence, with Special Regard to Prose Narratives." Acta Orientalia, 23:201-62.

Argues for the interplay between oral and written traditions in the creation and transmission of Hebrew, Arabic, Sumerian (Gilgamesh), and Ugaritic material. Includes a lengthy review of the controversy over oral tradition and Biblical texts to date. Proposes that the role of oral transmission varied from one form to the next, that is, that it was genre-dependent. Offers specific comparisons between HB and AR literatures. Somewhat primitive concept of oral tradition.
Area: BI, HB, AR, SU, UG, CP

Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff. Die Ilias und Homer. Berlin: Weidmann. 2nd ed. 1920, 3rd ed. 1966.

The last and perhaps the most influential of the Analysts, he argues for a complex theory of chronological strata in the Iliad that assumes a written origin or medium.
Area: AG

D.K. Wilgus. "The Comparative Approach." In The Ballad and the Scholars: Approaches to Ballad Study. Los Angeles: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA. pp. 1-28.

Argues that the comparative approach to ballad studies "can and should utilize any results that contribute to the understanding of the ballad as a product of humankind, just as the contextualist needs comparative evidence to prevent errors in interpretation" (21).
Area: FB, CP

D.K. Wilgus. "The Aisling and the Cowboy: Some Unnoticed Influences of Irish Vision Poetry on Anglo-American Balladry." Western Folklore, 44:255-300.

Studies the influences of three types of Irish vision poetry, the love- or fairy-aisling, the prophecy aisling, and the allegorical aisling, in folk ballads of the western United States, concluding that geographical distances are "spanned by the tenacity of the folk tradition of which we are all a part..." (300).
Area: FB, MI, US

D.K. Wilgus. "The Catalogue of Irish Traditional Ballads in English." In Ballad Research: The Stranger in Ballad Narrative and Other Topics. Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference of the Kommission für Volksdichtung of the Sociéte Internationale d'Ethnologie et de Folclore. Ed. Hugh Shields. Dublin: Folk Music Society of Ireland. pp. 21-33.

Describes the background and format of the forthcoming Catalogue of Irish Traditional Ballads in English, providing examples from ballads on "Love Relations" and "Irish History."
Area: FB, MI, CP

D.K. Wilgus and Eleanor R. Long. "The Blues Ballad and the Genesis of Style in Traditional Ballad Song." In Narrative Folksong: New Directions (Essays in Appreciation of W. Edson Richmond). Ed. Carol L. Edwards and Kathleen E.B. Manley. Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 437-82.

Describes the American "Blues Ballad" and provides examples from black and white American traditions, some with musical text. Discusses origins of the "Blues Ballad idea" in the two traditions and the traditions' interactions in the history of the American blues ballad.
Area: FB, AA, US

Dallas Willard. "Concerning the Knowledge' of the Pre-Platonic Greeks." In Language and Thought in Early Greek Philosophy. Ed. by Kevin Robb. La Salle, IL: Monist Library of Philosophy/The Hegeler Institute, pp. 244-54.

Averring that such a thesis is not necessary to support Havelock's view of the development of Greek culture from orality to literacy, argues against Havelocks' contention that the pre-Homeric Greeks could not possess "knowledge" in the sense of "a true generalization couched in the language of universals" (245) because not all thought is a linguistic activity.
Area: AG

Malcolm M. Willcock. "Mythological Paradeigma in the Iliad." Classical Quarterly, n.s. 14:141-54.

Finds Homer's use of mythological parallels to be much like Lord's oral-formulaic themes in their deployment. They characteristically (1) are found in speeches in the Iliad wherein one character wishes to influence another's actions, (2) take the form of ring-composition, (3) owe their parallelism to the main story to the individual poet rather than to the poetic tradition, (4) include an "irrational" phrase (i.e., narrative inconsistency) resulting from their integrity as units rather than subordinate parts of the main story, and (5) use stock motifs.
Area: AG

Malcolm M. Willcock. A Commentary on Homer's Iliad. London: Macmillan.

Comments on oral poetic techniques throughout. For example, on 8.555-59: "It is a recognized feature of formulaic composition that familiar phrases are supplied to the poet's mind by the general context, leading sometimes to just such minor carelessness in detail" (p. 93).
Area: AG

Malcolm M. Willcock. A Commentary on Homer's Iliad, Books I-VI. London: Macmillan.

Includes a brief section on "Formulas and Themes" (pp. xvii-xxi), with illustrations. Recognizes the link between such structures and an anterior oral tradition, but suggests that "whether the Iliad itself was orally composed is another question" (p. xxi).
Area: AG

Malcolm M. Willcock. "The Funeral Games of Patroclus." Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies (University of London), 20:1-11.

Contrasts the oral school's conception of "composition by theme" with the Neo-Analyst school's concern with imitation, foreshadowing, and cross-reference. Accounts for the appearance of both techniques in the funeral games by positing the coexistence of certain stories in the singer's repertoire.
Area: AG

Malcolm M. Willcock. "Hysteron Proteron in the Homeric Style." American Journal of Philology, 96:107-9.

In engaging a grammatical crux at Odyssey 10.532 (with a comparison to 11.45), he assumes that the Homeric poemswere orally composed and chalks up errors in tense variation to the exigencies of formulaic method.
Area: AG

Malcolm M. Willcock. "Ad Hoc Invention in the Iliad." Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 81:41-53.

Reviews a number of inconsistencies and "inherently improbable assertions" in the Iliad, interpreting them according to Parry-Lord theory as the result of (1) "the pressure towards the use of common formulas and themes" (45) and (2) the poet's orientation towards specific local context rather than global consistency.
Area: AG

Malcolm M. Willcock. "Homer, the Individual Poet." Liverpool Classical Monthly, 3:11-18.

Intended as a response to Pinsent 1978. Construing Homeric criticism as still essentially a battle between Analysts and Unitarians, he argues for a single poet who uses oral traditional elements but is nonetheless capable of the kind of sensitive, aesthetically conscious craft ascribed by some exclusively to the literate composer.
Area: AG

J.E. Caerwyn Williams. "The Court Poet in Medieval Ireland." Proceedings of the British Academy, 57:85-135.

A meticulous sorting of what is known from legendary, literary, and linguistic evidence about the Celtic bards and their ancient and medieval counterparts in Greece, Scandinavia, England, and elsewhere, often with revealing insights such as the following: "If singing' was an aspect of the activity of the Celtic bardos, so too was it an aspect of the activity of the Vedic karú singer, poet', and it is significant that the Greek cognate of the Vedic word was kh'rux, Dor. ka'rux herald', for its meaning gives us reason to believe that the Indo-European poet travelled from court to court: as the vehicle of divine inspiration his person would tend to be regarded as inviolable, and as a welcome visitor in royal courts he made an ideal herald' or messenger'" (107).
Area: OE, SK, AG, IE, CP

Robert R. Wilson. "The Old Testament Genealogies in Recent Research." Journal of Biblical Literature, 94:169-89.

Includes a consideration of anthropological data on oral genealogy_their form, function, and fluidity_and on the importance of that comparative data to Biblical studies.
Area: BI, CP

Marjorie Windelberg. "Theoretical Questions about Metrical Irregularities in the Chanson de Roland." Olifant: A Publication of the Société Rencesvals, American-Canadian Branch, 6:6-19.

Using Hainsworth's (1968) ideas on flexibility of formulaic structure, she argues for the interpretation of the Oxford Roland's 10% of metrically irregular lines as the result of oral-formulaic composition. Maintains (1) that these lines should therefore not be emended, (2) that the poet "chose to obey the rules of grammar when confronted with a choice between grammar and meter" (16), (3) that sound patterns are another sign of oral composition, and (4) that a musical analog from an Occitan manuscript reinforces the proposed model.
Area: OF

Marjorie Windelberg and D. Gary Miller. "How (Not) to Define the Epic Formula." Olifant: A Publication of the Société Rencesvals, American-Canadian Branch, 8:29-50.

A survey of theories of the oral formula, with criticism of Parry, Fry 1967b, Nagler 1967 and 1974, Lord 1960, Russo 1963, 1966, 1976a, and Kiparsky 1976, with general approval of Hainsworth 1968. Leans heavily on a synchronic view of AG and OF oral composition, with insistence on a Chomskyan competence/performance model of phrase generation as the basic process. Also introduces the ideas of text linguistics to oral studies.
Area: AG, OF, CP

James Anderson Winn. "The Poet as Singer: The Ancient World." In his Unsuspected Eloquence: A History of the Relations between Poetry and Music. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 1-29.

During a discussion of the roots of ancient Greek music and musical theory, he points out that melodic pitch-accent constituted an important (but still largely unstudied) aspect of oral-formulaic composition, maintaining that "each of the verbal formulae from which the lines are constructed has a melodic identity, a fact which doubtless helped the bard retain it in his memory" (6). Also fully aware of the effect of the advent of literacy (14ff.).
Area: MU, AG

Thomas G. Winner. The Oral Art and Literature of the Kazakhs of Russian Central Asia. Durham: Duke University Press. Rpt. 1980.

In Chapter 3 ("Folklore: The Heroic Epos," pp. 54-85), he reports on formal characteristics of oral epic, including the prevalence of "clichés,"and on oral performance.
Area: KZ

Armin Wishard. "Formulaic Composition in the Spielmannsepik." Papers on Language and Literature, 8:243-51.

Applies standard Parry-Lord oral theory to the MHG Spielmannsepik, observing formulas (tradition-dependent), themes, formulaic density, lack of enjambement, and manipulation of numbers.
Area: MHG

Charles Witke. "Béowulf 2069b-2199: A Variant?" Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 67:113-17.

Contra Magoun's (1958b, 1963) concept of this section of the poem as a "variant" he calls "Beowulf B," Witke interprets it as the characteristic narrative of an oral poet and dismisses the notion of a variant.
Area: OE

Kurt Witte. Singular und Plural: Forschungen über Form und Geschichte der griechischen Poesie. Leipzig: B.G. Teubner.

Studies the influence of meter on the declination of nouns in singular and plural in Homer and Hesiod as an example of the traditional nature of the Kunstsprache. An important influence on Parry's ideas of traditional phraseology.
Area: AG

Kurt Witte. "Zur Flexion homerischer Formeln." Glotta, 3:110-17. Rpt. in Homer: Tradition und Neuerung. Ed. Joachim Latacz. Wege der Forschung, Band 463. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesell-schaft, 1979. pp. 109-17.

An early study of the morphology of lexical and syntactic formulas at verse-end, particularly those filling the adonean clausula (from the bucolic diaeresis to line-end), that is, of the type that especially influenced Meillet (1923) and Parry.
Area: AG

Susan Wittig. "Formulaic Style and the Problem of Redundancy." Centrum, 1:123-36.

Views "oral" formulas, like those in a literary text, as instances of a larger phenomenon of redundancy. Feels that because formulaic narratives carry relatively less information than nonformulaic narratives, the former may serve as "second-order systems of social language," as "self-perpetuating, self-generating models in which patterns are formed from pre-existent patterns..." (123).
Area: CP, TH

Susan Wittig. "Theories of Formulaic Narrative." In Oral Tradition and Old Testament Studies. Ed. Robert C. Culley. Special issue of Semeia, 5, i:65-91.

Identifies the key issue in the relationship of the linguistic formula to larger formulaic structures as the way in which the patterns are generated. Confronts two views of the process of narrative generation: (1) "substitution and accumulation" and (2) "the realization of ideal-typical patterns" (65), seeing the latter as more promising.
Area: BI

Susan Wittig. "Formulaic Style in the Middle English Romance." Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 78:250-55.

Subjects 25 ME romances to a formulaic analysis based on Parry's original definition, which she considers the only true measure for statistical evaluation. Finds from 10-42% of each text is by these criteria formulaic, but that "the style of all the poems is marked to an unusual degree by redundant, formalized patterns of speech, a structure which appears to be the dominant characteristic of the romance style" (254). Includes a table of poems and percentage formulaic content.
Area: ME

Susan Wittig. Stylistic and Narrative Structures in the Middle English Romances. Austin: University of Texas Press.

An extended study of the genre from a linguistic and structural point of view, based on 27 romances chosen for their structural affinity. Chapters include stylistic analysis of (1) oral- formulaic diction using Pike's tagmemic approach, (2) the motifeme, (3) the type-scene, and (4) the type-episode. Describes characteristic narrative transformations and the cultural content of romances.
Area: ME

Friedrich August Wolf. Prolegomena ad Homerum sive (de) Operum Homericorum Prisca et Genuina Forma Variisque Mutationibus et Probabili Ratione Emendandi. Halle: Saxonum. Rpt. ed. Rudolf Peppmüller. Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1963.

A primary document for the development of oral theory. Marshals archaeological, historical, and literary evidence to show that writing could not have been available to Homer.
Area: AG

John Q. Wolf. "Folksingers and the Re-Creation of Folksong." Western Folklore, 26:101-11.

On the basis of his fieldwork among eleven Ozark folksingers, he shows that (1) the great majority are aware that they make changes in the song texts as they perform and re-perform them, and (2) singers vary in the extent and kind of their alterations from mere memorizers who are largely imprisoned by a text to individualistic editors who actively strike out in original directions. The songs most often altered are those most familiar to a singer, since he will feel free to make changes in them, and those least familiar, since he will feel free to evolve new versions of them.
Area: FB, US

Carol J. Wolf. "Christ as Hero in The Dream of the Rood." Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 71:202-10.

Shows how the Rood-poet successfully weds heroic tradition to a Christian subject through his adaptation of formulaic diction as well as two traditional themes or type-scenes, "the hero on the beach" and "the approach to battle."
Area: OE

Cecil Wood. "The Skald's Bid for a Hearing." Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 59:240-54.

Examines the structure and function of the hljós bik, or the skald's formal appeal for a hearing at an actual oral performance, in its appearances through five centuries of skaldic tradition.
Area: ON

Cecil Wood. "Concerning the Oral Tradition." Scandinavian Studies, 34:47-53.

Argues, contra Heusler, that the prose interpolations in the Völundarkvia could have been part of the oral performance and so are integral to the original form of the work.
Area: ON

L.J. Woodward. "Hebrew Tradition and Luís de León." Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 61:426-31.

A two-part note offering first a review of lore supporting the author's views of the intellectual development of Luís de León, and secondly the author's interpretation of details in three of de León's poems in light of Hebraic oral commentary and the Kabbala.
Area: HI, CP

Patrick Wormald. "Lex Scripta and Verbum Regis: Legislation and Germanic Kingship from Euric to Cnut." In Early Medieval Kingship. Ed. P.H. Sawyer and I.N. Wood. Leeds: School of History, University of Leeds. Rpt. 1979. pp. 105-38.

In examining the legal and political process of written lawmaking among the Germanic barbarians, he comments briefly on the effect of traditional oral methods on code formation.
Area: OE

Patrick Wormald. "The Uses of Literacy in Anglo-Saxon England and its Neighbours." Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 5deg. ser., 27:95-114.

Finds few enduring symptoms of established literacy at any point in the Anglo-Saxon period. Treats the role of Alfred's reforms, of the Church and clergy, and of Latin learning, with comparisons to Irish tradition. Notes that there was a low level even of pragmatic literacy but considers Beowulf written.
Area: OE, CP

Patrick Wormald. "Bede, Beowulf, and the Conversion of the Anglo-Saxon Aristocracy." In Bede and Anglo-Saxon England: Papers in Honour of the 1300th Anniversary of the Birth of Bede, given at Cornell University in 1973 and 1974. Ed. Robert T. Farrell. Special issue of British Archeological Reports, 46:32-95.

Feels the Parry-Lord theory has been defeated in OE studies, since "it has also been demonstrated that supposedly oral' formulae appear in undeniably literate contexts elsewhere, while close study of the way in which the Beowulf-poet used formulae has made oral composition seem less and less plausible" (p. 37). The overall work deals with the problems of historical evidence, paleography, and the Christian nature of Beowulf.
Area: OE

Charles L. Wrenn. "Two Anglo-Saxon Harps." Comparative Literature, 14:118-28. Rpt. in Studies in Old English Literature in Honor of Arthur G. Brodeur. Ed. Stanley B. Greenfield (Eugene: University of Oregon. Rpt. New York: Russell and Russell, 1973. pp. 118-28.

Contends that the Sutton Hoo harp (cp. Bruce-Mitford and Bruce-Mitford 1970), together with recently discovered fragments from a seventh-century harp of similar design, strongly suggests instrumental accompaniment for OE poetry. Reviews pertinent phrases and passages of OE poetry for evidence on the nature and manner of such accompaniment.
Area: OE, MU

Charles L. Wrenn. A Study of Old English Literature. New York: Norton.

A general commentary on formulaic structure and oral tradition concentrated in Chapters 3 ("Form and Style in Anglo-Saxon Literature," pp. 35-56) and 5 ("Germanic Heroic Tradition," pp. 74-91). Feels that the presumably later Christian poems still echo the old Germanic oral forms.
Area: OE

H. Curtis Wright. The Oral Antecedents of Greek Librarianship. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press.

Traces the idea of the library from its evolution to its realization, from ancient Greek oral culture forward to Alexandria. In the process (especially Chapter 4) he divides early Greek civilization into four periods, based on the inroads made by literacy: preliterate, assimilative, transitional, and bookish. Includes a section on the Parry-Lord theory and its implications (129-40).
Area: AG

Donald R. Wright. Oral Traditions from the Gambia, vol. 1: Mandinka Griots. Papers in International Studies, Africa Series, no. 37. Athens: Center for International Studies, Africa Program, Ohio University.

In addition to ethnographic data and transcribed interviews, he discusses the natural evolution of oral tradition (espec. pp. 14-16): "Griots are continually adding new embellishments to their tales which, when heard by other traditionalists, are adopted and spoken again more widely" (p. 15). Also notes the conscious modification of traditional history for political purposes.
Area: AF

William F. Wyatt, Jr. "Penelope's Fat Hand (Od. 21.6-7)." Classical Philology, 73:343-44.

Sees the formulaic phrase ceiri; paceivh/ as a context-sensitive compliment to Penelope in 21.6, and as another indication that the audience was conscious of formulaic and epithetic structure.
Area: AG

Alfred W. Yazzie. Navajo Oral Traditions I, vol. 1. Ed. Jeri Eck. Rough Rock: AZ: Navajo Curriculum Center Press, Rough Rock Demonstration School.

An illustrated collection of Navajo myths containing elementary definitions and explanations of the oral tradition literature of the Navajo culture. Designed primarily for young readers.
Area: AI

Alsace Yen. "On Vladimir Propp and Albert B. Lord: Their Theoretical Differences." Journal of American Folklore, 86:161-66.

Taking her point of departure from an infelicitous translation of Propp's sjuzét as "theme" rather than the proper rendering as "plot," she emphasizes Propp's synchronic examination of story versus Lord's insistence on traditional units as elements of thematic composition.
Area: TH, CP

Perry B. Yoder. "A-B Pairs and Oral Composition in Hebrew Poetry." Vetus Testamentum, 21:470-89.

Shows that much Hebrew poetry exhibits a high density of traditional "fixed word pairs," defined as "any two terms having the same grammatical class which occur more than once in parallelism" (472). Contends that these pairs correspond to Parry's formulas, with the formal requirement of parallelism taking the place of meter. Finds in Ob-Ugric and Toda poetry living oral traditions which serve as supporting analogs for Hebrew poetry, "as Yugoslav poetry did for the Homeric poems" (481).
Area: BI, HB, OS, VG, TD, CP

John C. Yoder. "Historical Study of a Kanyok Genesis Myth: The Tale of Citend a Mfumu." In The African Past Speaks: Essays on Oral Tradition and History. Ed. by Joseph C. Miller. Hamden, CN: Archon, pp. 82-107.

Argues that genesis stories, because they are mythical in nature, should not be overlooked in a historical inquiry. Focuses on Kanyok myth and claims that its older, often archaic, elements can be placed within appropriate time settings, enabling one to trace the general evolution of the genesis tale as well as ideals and culture at remote periods of the Kanyok past.
Area: AF

Douglas C. Young. "Miltonic Light on Professor Denys Page's Homeric Theory." Greece & Rome, 6:96-108.

Employs Page's method of vocabulary analysis (1955) to consider authorship in the works of John Milton, missing entirely the basic assumption of a traditional formulaic language. Includes some vacuous discussion of ways in which "new formulas" could have entered the Odyssey.
Area: AG

Douglas C. Young. "Was Homer an Illiterate Improvisor?" Minnesota Review, 5:65-75.

Attacks with some fervor the work of Parry and his followers for its alleged imprecision, inconsistency, and illogic.
Area: AG

Douglas C. Young. "Never Blotted a Line? Formula and Premeditation in Homer and Hesiod." Arion, 6:279-324.

A testament to willful ignorance and polemic argument for its own sake, this article illustrates in fine detail how lack of language preparation and even of logical argument can result in an embarrassing series of blunders in the reporting of others' ideas and of basic interpretation. Young not only evaluates poems he can read only in translation, but also those he has never read (SC). His puerile discussions founder on philological, historical, cultural, and explicative misapprehensions. Misses entirely the notion of tradition, misunderstanding oral tradition as oral performance. In arguing for premeditation in composition, a recognized feature of some shorter oral genres (a fact he has also missed), he adduces an unordered mélange of oral productions (from OF, SC, and Gaelic materials to speeches by former President Johnson) and a slipshod methodology.
Area: AG, CP

Anthony C. Yu. "Homer and the Scholars Once More." In Parnassus Revisited: Modern Critical Essays on the Epic Tradition. Ed. Anthony C. Yu. Chicago: American Library Association. pp. 3-25.

Surveys the work of Parry and Lord and the "essential elements" of oral theory. Discusses the vexed problems of artistry, originality, and unity in the light of Parry's discoveries.
Area: AG, CP, BB

Zara P. Zaddy. "Chrétien de Troyes & the Epic Tradition." In Atti del 2deg. Congresso Internazionale della "Societe Rencesvals." Vol. 21 of Cultura Neolatina, pp. 71-82.

Illustrates Chrétian's learned, thoughtful handling of an oral traditional motif by focusing on five instances of the arming of a warrior in Erec et Enide and comparing them to examples in Old French chansons de geste. Shows that "in dealing with subjects which appear in the epics as traditional motifs, Chrétien is as much indebted to the jongleurs and their craft as he is to Ovid in speaking of lovers and love" (p. 81).
Area: FR, OF, CP

Roland Zanni. Heliand, Genesis und das Altenglische. Die altsächsische Stabreimdichtung im Spannungsfeld zwischen germanischer Oraltradition und altenglischer Bibelepik. Quellen und Forschungen zur Sprach- und Kulturgeschichte der germanischen Völker, N.F. 76. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

Considers the possible relation between the Old Saxon Heliand and the OE Genesis in terms of common diction and the influences of oral heroic and literate Christian traditions. The first section reviews the relevant criticism and the second concentrates on South Germanic formulaic phraseology and adaptation to a religious purpose.
Area: OSX, OE, CP

W. Ken Zellefrow. "Beowulf Enhanced by Comparison with Primary Epics." Old English Newsletter, 14, ii:20-21.

A pedagogical note suggesting in-class comparison of Beowulf with the Song of Roland, the Nibelungenlied, and the Cid.
Area: OE, OF, MHG, HI, CP

Russell Zguta. "Skomorokhi: The Russian Minstrel-Entertainers." Slavic Review, 31:297-313.

A history of the professional minstrel-entertainers from their origin in Kievan Russia to their proscription by Tsar Aleksei in 1648. Distinguishes between the skomorokhi and the gusliari, the latter originally involved with the heroic tradition of byliny at court and the former emerging from the peasant class and therefore involved with instrumental music and nonheroic material. At the end of the heroic age, the gusliari joined the skomorokhi, with the result that the byliny were reshaped for a popular audience and in some cases "transformed, by reworking and embellishing, into popular folk tales" (311). In the sixteenth century the oral formulas and patterns from the byliny began to enter the historical songs.
Area: RU

Russell Zguta. Russian Minstrels: A History of the Skomorokhi. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Includes chapters on the origin and early history, migration, and decline and dispersal of the skomorokhi, as well as on their contributions to oral literature (Chapter 4, pp. 81-101) and to music, dance, and theater. In Chapter 4 he treats the role of the skomorokhi in the composition and transmission of heroic tales (byliny), historical songs (istoricheskie pesni), folktales (skazki), ritual seasonal songs and incantations, charms (zaklinaniia), and proverbs or aphorisms. Argues that the gusliari, or gusli-players, were the original bearers of Kievan heroic tradition, and that the skomorokhi later carried the tradition north, particularly to Novgorod, up until the 1470's.
Area: RU

Viktor M. Zhirmunsky. "On the Comparative Study of the Heroic Epic of the Peoples of Central Asia." In Proceedings of the XXV International Congress of Orientalists: Papers Presented by the Russian Delegation, vol. 7. Moscow: Oriental Literature Publishing House, alphabetically T-Z, last entry (no pagination).

A general survey of epic tales from the region with an eye to the distinctive character of each "national version."
Area: KZ, KR, TK, UZ, CP

Viktor M. Zhirmunsky. "The Epic Folk-Singers in Central Asia (Tradition and Artistic Improvisation)." In VII Congres International des Sciences Anthropologiques et Ethnologiques 3-10 Août 1964, vol. 6. Moscow: Izadateljstvo "Nauka." pp. 234-41. "Discussion," pp. 241-45.

A comparative study of oral folk literature and epic from East and West that have survived in manuscript only. Reconstrues early bylina study, considers epic variation and transmission, and describes the practice of poetry, training of singers, and nature of the audience in central Asian traditions.
Area: TK, KR, KZ, UZ, RU, CP

Viktor M. Zhirmunsky. "The Epic of Alpamysh' and the Return of Odysseus." Proceedings of the British Academy, 52:267-86.

Through variant forms of the Alpamysh epic, he reconstructs the "principal stages of its development and dissemination" (274). Notes similarities between this epic and the Odyssey, contending that both belong to an Eastern, heroic version of the return story as distinct from a Western, "novelistic and romantic" version. Suggests a "common source in ancient folk-tale" (281).
Area: AG, UZ, TK, KZ, CP

Viktor M. Zhirmunsky. "On the Study of Comparative Literature." Oxford Slavonic Papers, 13:1-13.

Makes a case for comparison beyond the Indo-European family, especially with the Mongol and the Turkic traditions. Uses as one example heroic poetry, discussing oral tradition, collectivity of the audience, social identity of the singer, and so on.
Area: TK, MN, CP

Viktor M. Zhirmunsky and Nora K. Chadwick. Oral Epics of Central Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Part I on the epic poetry is reprinted from The Growth of Literature (H. Chadwick and N. Chadwick 1932-40), vol. 3. Part II on the epic songs and singers, by Zhirmunsky, is published for the first time and contains an extensive bibliography, a survey of tales, and descriptions of the singers.
Area: TK, KZ, KR, UZ, CP

Zora D. Zimmerman. "Moral Vision in the Serbian Folk Epic: The Foundation Sacrifice of Skadar." Slavic and East European Journal, 23:371-80.

Discusses the Master-Mason myth in oral tradition and its redemptive significance for the audience of oral narratives in which the myth is incorporated. Her suggested psycho-dynamics harmonizes with the performance process posited in Havelock 1963, Simon 1978, and Foley 1977a, 1978d.
Area: SC

Paul Zumthor. Langue et techniques poétiques à l'époque romane (XIe-XIIIe siècles). Paris: C. Klincksieck.

In the section on "Style et registres" (pp. 123-78), he takes up the formula as a stylistic element with a unified semantic meaning, syntactic form, and metrical identity.
Area: OF

Paul Zumthor. "La Chanson de geste: etat de la question." In Mélanges... Teruo Sato, Pt. I. Cahiers d'études médiévales, num. sp. Nagoya: Centre d'Etudes Médiévales et Romanes. pp. 97-112.

In a survey of opinions on the origins, development, and fundamental stylistic features of the chanson de geste, he advocates the general assumption that these poems are literary creations in the forms in which we have them, but that those texts were preceded by an oral tradition not unlike that which survives in the Balkans. Ascribes traditional structures, especially the formula, to that oral stage, conceiving of the formula as "un moule expressif, triplement défini: par un rythme, par un schème syntaxique, et par une certaine détermination lexicale" (p. 100).
Area: OF

Paul Zumthor. "Le Discours de la poesie orale." In Le Discours de la poésie. Special issue of Poétique, 52:387-401.

Sees Parry-Lord theory as an insufficient approach to oral poetry because it concentrates exclusively on one particular aspect of the discours: the formula. Noting that all such phenomena are tradition-dependent and that formulaic density will vary from one tradition to the next, he argues that "à la fois signe et symbole, paradigme et syntagme, la formule neutralise l'opposition entre la continuité de la langue et la discontinuité des discours" (390). Points out that while oral and written poetry use the same langue, they vary in the distribution of elements and strategies of expression, namely that oral verse is characterized by (1) a certain relationship between duration of the discours and the number of phrases, (2) syntactic structures (especially forms of parataxis), (3) rhetorical figures, (4) vocabulary, and (5) sound patterns.
Area: CP, TH

Paul Zumthor. "The Text and the Voice." New Literary History, 16:67-92.

Defines communication and preservation as the two functions of the medieval text, describes modes of composition, and demonstrates to what degree voice and gesture function to impart meaning in oral performances, which he sees as more closely related to the dance than to a written text.
Area: TH

Julius Zupitza, ed. Guy of Warwick. EETS, Extra series 25-26. London: Oxford University Press.

The first collection of stock phrases in ME romance appears in the notes to this edition.
Area: ME

Michael J. Zwettler. "Classical Arabic Poetry between Folk and Oral Tradition." Journal of the American Oriental Society, 96:198-212.

Evaluates earlier Arabists' model, especially as championed by Karel Petràek, of Volkspoesie versus Kunstpoesie as a solution to problems of repetition, structural pattern, variation, and disputed authorship. Notes that the oral/written distinction, as made chiefly by Parry and Lord, explains such problems more precisely and clearly. Stresses that the general theory must, however, be "judiciously adapted and applied to the particular circumstances of pre- and early Islamic Arab culture and Arabic poetry" (212, italics deleted).
Area: AR

Michael J. Zwettler. The Oral Tradition of Classical Arabic Poetry: Its Character and Implications. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.

After a careful adjustment of the Parry-Lord theory to the demands of the literature and genre he means to investigate, he conducts a formulaic analysis of a sample qasda finding an overall verbal and syntactic density of 56%. Also demonstrates Arabic grammarians' disapproval of necessary enjambement and interprets the thematic structure of the poems under consideration as another sign of oral composition. The last two chapters establish the cArabya as a poetic koine or Kunstsprache analogous to the Homeric poetic language and discuss the nature of variation and question of attribution within the classical Arabic tradition. Exhibits a rare command of apposite comparative studies of oral literature.
Area: AR, CP