Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

Calvert Watkins "Aspects of Indo-European Poetics." In Edgar C. Polomé, ed. The Indo-Europeans in the Fourth and Third Millennia. Ann Arbor: Karoma Publishers. pp. 104-121.

A survey of the features of Indo-European poetics, including discussion of the role of the poet and poetry in an oral society, formal aspects such as the poet's techniques, and the character of poetic language and message. Focuses on the formulaic element in the poetry and proposes that formulas are "different realizations" (112) of a synchronic thematic deep-structure text and of a diachronic prototext. Explicates the relationship between oral poetic transmission of societal knowledge and poetic definitions couched in formulas.
Area: IE