Oral-formulaic composition

Imagine you're telling a super long story, but you have to make it rhyme and sound super cool! That's what ancient poets did. They had a secret code made of special phrases, like 'brave knight' or 'sparkling sea'.

These phrases were like LEGO bricks for poems. When they needed to say something, they'd grab the right brick and snap it into place. This helped them tell long, exciting stories without forgetting anything!

This amazing way of telling stories wasn't invented yesterday! Smart people started noticing that old poems sounded a lot alike. They realized that poets weren't making up every single word.

Instead, they were using phrases that other poets had used before. It was like a game of telephone, but with poems! Over many years, these special phrases got passed down, helping poets create new stories from old ideas.

These word-blocks, called 'formulae', were like a poet's superpower! They let poets make up poems really, really fast, even when they were performing for a big crowd. Think about how long it takes you to write a short story.

These poets could create epic poems on the spot! This means we have amazing stories from long ago that might not have existed if poets didn't have this special way of remembering and creating.

So, how did it work? A poet would have a story in their head. When they needed to describe a battle, they'd use a 'battle formula'.

If they needed to talk about a king, they'd use a 'king formula'. They would link these phrases together, making sure they fit the rhythm and rhyme. It was like building a train track, connecting one station (phrase) to the next, to create a long, beautiful journey of words!