Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

Margaret Alexiou. "The Lament of the Virgin in Byzantine Literature and Modern Greek Folk-Song." Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, 1:111-40.

The modern ballads and the Byzantine examples share enough elements to establish them as stemming from a common oral tradition. Changes occur through "the principles and techniques of oral poetry, the three essential ingredients of which are variation, selection, and continuity" (140).
Area: BG, MG, CP