Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

Johannes Kail. "Über die Parallelstellen in der angelsächsischen Poesie." Anglia: Zeitschrift für englische Philologie, 12:21-40.

Suggests that correspondences in diction among different poems are not an author's identifying feature (as most of the practitioners of the Higher Criticism assumed), but rather a general feature of epic style. Postulates a Phrasenvorrat which developed over time and which was available to poets working within the poetic tradition. A reply to Sarrazin 1888 and an important contribution to the evolution of formulaic theory in OE.
Area: OE