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Arts & Culture

The Oral-Formulaic Composition Method in Homeric Epics

Quick fact

In the 1930s, Milman Parry and Albert Lord discovered living oral bards in Yugoslavia who composed epic poems without writing, using identical formulaic techniques found in Homer.

Why this is interesting

You probably think of Homer as a literary genius, but what if the Iliad and Odyssey were composed not in writing, but through a performance technique using ready-made phrases? How does a singer produce thousands of lines without a script?