Oral bards improvised anew at each performance rather than reciting fixed texts
Evidence
The oral bard who uses such formulaic language is not, as scholars in the nineteenth century who struggled with the problem of illiterate bards all assumed, a poet reciting from memory a fixed text. He is improvising, along known lines, relying on a huge stock of formulaic phrases, lines and even whole scenes; but he is improvising. And every time he sings the poem, he may do it differently. The outline remains the same, but the text, the oral text, is flexible. The poem is new every time it is performed. — Homer; Robert Fagles; Bernard Knox, The Odyssey, 36
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to performance studies and the Parry-Lord theory of oral-formulaic composition, — connects to: Homeric epithets form a metrical system built for oral improvisation — Homer; Robert Fagles; Bernard Knox, The Odyssey, 33; Oral and written composition are continuous rather than opposed techniques. — Homer; Robert Fagles; Bernard Knox, The Odyssey, 50; Oral transmission yields more internally consistent traditions than written transmission — Harold Innis, The Bias of Communication, 664
- SEED: Possible essay angle: what the ‘poem is new every time it is performed’ claim means for copyright, authorship, and textual stability in the digital age.
Related
- Oral and written composition are continuous rather than opposed techniques. (similarity 0.83)
- Homeric epithets form a metrical system built for oral improvisation (similarity 0.82)
- Homer’s poetry derives its speed and energy from oral performance (similarity 0.80)
- Homer’s epics record a song rather than being pure spontaneity (similarity 0.79)
Broader Connections
- Homeric epithets form a metrical system built for oral improvisation
#corroborates(0.60) — Homer; Robert Fagles; Bernard Knox, The Odyssey, 33 - Oral and written composition are continuous rather than opposed techniques.
#expands(0.50) — Homer; Robert Fagles; Bernard Knox, The Odyssey, 50 - Oral transmission yields more internally consistent traditions than written transmission
#complicates(0.40) — Harold Innis, The Bias of Communication, 664