Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

Davis D. McElroy. "England's First Poet-Critic?" Notes & Queries, n.s. 6, 204:305-6.

Recasts the description of oral performance at lines 867ff. of Beowulf through application of oral-formulaic theory, interpreting the passage as a comment on the Danish thane's dexterous deployment of formulas and themes and thus as the first instance of literary criticism in England.
Area: OE