Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

Alan D. Deyermond and Margaret Chaplin. "Folk-Motifs in the M edieval Spanish Epic." In Hispanic Studies in Honor of Edmun de Chasca. A special issue of Philological Quarterly, 51, i:36-53.

After a survey of folk-motifs in the Poema de Mio Cid, Mocedades de Rodrigo, Condesa traidora, Poema de Fernán González, Romanz del Infant García, and other texts, they conclude that the frequent use of motifs (1) is not limited to the epic genre, (2) is as consistent with a learned as with a popular origin for a poem, (3) makes it difficult to accep t the neotraditionalist view of a juglar composing orally at the time of the action or soon afterwards, and (4) means that scholars must employ caution in formulating theories of direct borrowing among Spanish, French, and English poems.
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