Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

Thomas Gardner. "How Free Was the Beowulf Poet?" Modern Philology, 71:111-27.

Argues that oral-formulaic theory cannot account for the wide spectrum of verbal association effects that he describes as beyond the concepts of formula and theme. Posits a literate poet in command of the formulaic style and able to consider how best to arrange traditional materials.
Area: OE