This classic study is an introduction to ""oral poetry,"" a broad
subject which Ruth Finnegan interprets as ranging from American
folksongs, Eskimo lyrics, and modern popular songs to medieval oral
literature, the heroic poems of Homer, and recent epic compositions in
Asia or the Pacific. The book employs a broad comparative perspective
and considers oral poetry from Africa, Asia, and Oceania as well as
Europe and America. The results of Finnegan's vast research illuminate
and suggest fresh conclusions to many current controversies: the nature
of oral tradition and oral composition; the notion of a special oral
style; possible connection between types of poetry and types of society;
the differences between oral and written communication; and the role of
poets in non-literate societies. Drawing on insights from anthropology
and literary scholarship, Oral Poetry attempts to create a greater
appreciation of the literary aspects of this fascinating form of poetry.
Finnegan quotes extensively from a wide variety of sources, mainly in
translation. The discussion is presented in non-technical language and
will be of interest not only to sociologists and social anthropologists,
but also to all those interested in comparative literature and in folk
poetry from cultures around the world. The re-issue of this text, widely
used in folklore, anthropology, and comparative literature courses,
comes at an appropriate juncture in interdisciplinary scholarship, which
is witnessing the breakdown of traditional disciplinary boundaries and
an increase in the comparative study of oral poetry. For this volume
Ruth Finnegan has provided a new foreword relating the text to more
recent developments. Ruth Finnegan OBE, FBA, Emeritus Professor Open
University. Her work has mainly been on oral performance, narrative, the
ethnography of music, and communicating (including extra-sensory
perception). Her publications include Oral Literature in Africa, The
Hidden Musicians, Communicating: the Multiple Modes of Human
Communication, Why Do We Quote? and, most recently, the novels Black
Inked Pearl, Voyage of Pearl of the Seas, and The Helix Pearl. Born in
Ireland, she now lives in Old Bletchley, southern England.
