Re: Beowulf, Gilgamesh

Cecilia writes, concerning my claim that most ancient literatures present no
clear evidence of origins in bardic traditions:
<< I'm not sure where this statement comes from, but in the case of
Anglo-Saxon poetry, it is certainly not true. The tradition of the bard
extends far into recorded history, but even beyond that, the texts offer a
number of linguistic clues that point toward their original oral delivery.
>>

Thank you, Cecilia, for your discussion of Beowulf. You presented some
interesting thoughts.

I want to speak to your uncertainty concerning "where [my earlier statement]
comes from." I mentioned in my previous post that I was not up on the
pertinent pre-history (I do love Beowulf, though I haven't read it in a
while and my study of ancient literatures and cultures has focused on those
a bit further East), and I was not sure about bardic traditions surrounding
this particular poem. My claim that most ancient literatures present no
clear evidence for an origin in a bardic tradition was based on experience
with a number of ancient literary traditions in, around, and a good ways
East of the Mediterranean, and how they compare to the Greek tradition --
where claims of a literary origin in bardic tradition allow no doubt.

Again, I know much less about the Germanic and nearby literatures.

In any case, I am less certain about your linguistic clues. The sound of
poetry is very important, of course, even to us. And while it might be true
(though I'm not sure of it) that the writers and original audiences of
ancient poems cared even MORE about the sounds, this fact would not require
a sung tradition distinct from or instead of a written one. This is
especially clear in light of how wide was the habitual practice of reading
everything aloud for many of the earliest readers and writers. We have
several clear occasions in Greek and Roman literature at least of men being
depicted as very surprised at the rare sight of someone reading silently --
in certain times and places, it might have been taken as a sign of stupidity
or even of faking, and it was clearly seen as bizarre and unusual. Judging
by Semitic traditions of reading scripture and prayers aloud, even if only
muttering amongst a crowd when none but God can be listening, the practice
might have been common outside of the Graeco-Roman world as well. So sound
can be immediately important in the very same way, whether the tradition is
oral and bardic or written (or even written and bardic).

And while repetition is often taken as indicating a memorized (and thereby
non-written), oral tradition, it is not clear that this need always be the
case. As Lucy-Ruth points out, these repetitions can be poetic relics, an
anticipated poetic form that originates in an earlier tradition that
predates writing. Or for that matter they can simply be poetic form,
totally unrelated to unwritten traditions, used for beauty or for emphasis
or for subtler narrative effects. It seems rather clear that some poetic
traditions, like the Hebrew one, for instance, used strategic repetitions
and even such things as the inclusion or absense of formulaic constructions
like "And David said:" before dialogue in order to achieve certain dramatic
and narrative effects (Robert Alter discusses these things with respect to
the Hebrew tradition in his translations as well as his excellent books like
The Art of Biblical Narrative).

We do certainly have literatures that make extensive use of formulaic
epithets and expressions and extensive repetition that nevertheless are
written traditions. And in recent years it has even been demonstrated that
oral traditions need not rely on such gimmicks, despite the skepticism of
certain scholars who have claimed that without such repetition no person
could memorize such lengthy works, or that some degree of improvisation was
necessary (as in Matt K.'s example of freestyle rapping) since such
memorization was impossible. We have documented the length of literature
memorized and accurately repeated by some old performers in obscure places,
and we now occasionally see "performance artists" who perform such
extraordinary feats of memory, like a man I myself saw in New Mexico who
could perform, word-for-word and line-for-line, several entire chapters of
Finnegans Wake of all things, complete with dramatic dance-like
characterizations. (I saw him perform one chapter, which, if I remember
correctly, took a bit more than an hour. Several skeptics in the audience
sat with books in their laps to check his accuracy, which was nearly
perfect. And while he's only been at this a few years, I believe he aims at
the whole book.)

You might be right about the particulars of Beowulf's history. I do expect,
however, that such literatures had long histories of more-or-less "written"
states before the time of our receiving them, even if they had more
wiggle-room than we do, and this was my primary point with Matt K.

-Robbie

P.S. I second your recommendations for Seamus Heaney's introduction and for
Tolkien's essay.
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Received on Mon Dec 15 02:22:41 2003