Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

Alain Renoir. "Oral Theme and Written Texts." Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 77:337-46.

Reports the survival of an oral-formulaic theme in a number of traditions: the manmade wooden object which delivers a speech on its origin as a live tree occurs in Catullus' Poem IV, the OE Dream of the Rood and Husband's Message, the Iliad, and the Aeneid. Sees each poem as independently drawing on tradition and the observation of such correspondences as a way to bypass the problem of influence in dealing with formulaic materials.
Area: OE, LT, AG, CP