Oral Composition in Pre-Islamic Poetry
About: This article is published in Journal of Arabic Literature.The article was published on 1972-01-01. It has received 39 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Composition (language) & Poetry.
Citations
More filters
[...]
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a theory for singing in Medieval Epic Appendices, including the Iliad, Odyssey, and Iliads, as well as some notes on medieval epics.
Abstract: Part I. The Theory 1. Introduction 2. Singers: Performance and Training 3. The Formula 4. The Theme 5. Songs and the Song 6. Writing and Oral Tradition Part II. The Application 7. Homer 8. The Odyssey 9. The Iliad 10. Some Notes on Medieval Epic Appendices Notes Index
121 citations
TL;DR: There is an unbroken continuity in African verbal art forms, from interacting oral genres to such literary productions as the novel and poetry as mentioned in this paper, and the strength of the oral tradition seems not to have abated; through three literary periods, a reciprocal linkage has worked these media into a unique art form against which potent influences from East and West have proved unequal.
Abstract: There is an unbroken continuity in African verbal art forms, from interacting oral genres to such literary productions as the novel and poetry. The strength of the oral tradition seems not to have abated; through three literary periods, a reciprocal linkage has worked these media into a unique art form against which potent influences from East and West have proved unequal. Vital to African literature is the relationship between the oral and written word; in seemingly insignificant interstices have flourished such shadowy literary figures as Egyptian scribes, Hausa and Swahili copyists and memorizers, and contemporary writers of popular novellas, all playing crucial transitional roles in their respective literatures. The oral tale is not “the childhood of fiction” (Macculloch, 1905), but the early literary traditions were beneficiaries of the oral genres, and there is no doubt that the epic and its hero are the predecessors of the African novel and its central characters. The African oral tradition distills the essences of human experiences, shaping them into rememberable, readily retrievable images of broad applicability with an extraordinary potential for eliciting emotional responses. These are removed from their historical contexts so that performers may recontextualize them in artistic forms. The oral arts, containing this sensory residue of past cultural life and the wisdom so engendered, constitute a medium for organizing, examining, and interpreting an audience's experiences of the images of the present. The tradition is a venerable one.
95 citations
Additional excerpts
...See Monroe (1972) and Zwettler (1978)....
[...]
TL;DR: In a recent volume of essays on Quranic studies as mentioned in this paper, Alford T. Welch divides the field as it has developed in Western scholarship into three areas: exegesis, or the study of the text itself, the history of its interpretation (Tafsir), and the roles of the Qur'an in Muslim life and thought (in ritual, theology, etc.).
Abstract: In a state-of-the-art introduction to a recent volume of essays on Quranic studies, Alford T. Welch divides the field as it has developed in Western scholarship into three areas: \"(1) exegesis, or the study of the text itself, (2) the history of its interpretation (Tafsir), and (3) the roles of the Qur'an in Muslim life and thought (in ritual, theology, etc.).\"' Studies within the first two areas have been characterized by more or less rigorous methods of textual and historical research, although, as Welch points out, \"critical opinion on the basic issues is more divided now than ever before.\"2 Most scholars working on problems in the third area have also culled their data from classical religious texts; they have usually seen their task as one of describing the normative rules and conditions that apply to the liturgical performance and use of Qur'an recitation. The role of the Qur'an in Muslim life has also been described by social scientists working in local fieldwork situations.3 The unfortunate polemical atmosphere
35 citations
01 Oct 1986
TL;DR: The history of the study of oral literature has been covered well by John Miles Foley in his Introduction to Oral Traditional Literature (1981b), and also in his introduction to Oral-Formulaic Theory and Research (1985), which includes a monumental annotated bibliography to the subject as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The history of the study of Oral Literature has been covered well by John Miles Foley in his Introduction to Oral Traditional Literature (1981b), and also in his Introduction to Oral-Formulaic Theory and Research (1985), which includes a monumental annotated bibliography to the subject. I do not intend to recapitulate what he has already done so admirably; all the material is there, and his comments are even-handed and exemplary. There are, however, several general observations which it would perhaps be fitting to make at this juncture in the study of Oral Traditional Literature, which is marked by the inauguration of a new journal devoted to Oral Tradition. Perusing Foley's works just mentioned, one is immediately struck by the number of language traditions and cultural areas in which the "oral theory" is now discussed, and by the diversity of forms and problems included in the study of "oral traditional literature." This is an exciting development; it is also sobering, because it carries with it a mandate to be clear in our notion of what we mean by oral traditional literature.--Page 467.
20 citations
Cites background from "Oral Composition in Pre-Islamic Poe..."
...Monroe 1972 James T. Monroe....
[...]
...The work of James T. Monroe (1972) and Michael J. Zwettler (1978) comes immediately to mind....
[...]
01 Jan 2019
TL;DR: In this article, the authors study the poetry of contemporaries of Muḥammad as a source for the historiography of early Islam and translate, contextualise, and analyse the compositions of these three poets.
Abstract: This dissertation studies the poetry of contemporaries of Muḥammad as a source for the historiography of early Islam. The poems can contribute to the research on this period: in their compositions Muḥammad’s contemporaries express their vision of the world, of their group, and of themselves. In this dissertation I study the compositions attributed to three poets: two from the same tribe as Muḥammad, and a third of unknown descent. All three are considered as “professional poets” en as three of the best poets of their time. In the dissertation I translate, contextualise, and analyse the compositions of these three poets. The poets I study are so-called circumstantial poems: in these compositions, usually quite short, the poet reacts to a certain situation with which the poet and/or his group were confronted in the recent or more distant past. Besides poems that, on their own or in combination with other poems or sources, present additional or divergent information on what we know based on Muslim tradition, the analysis of the poetical corpus as a whole can offer insights into the historical and social context of the prophet Muḥammad and his early followers. The compositions not only are a depiction of the feelings and emotions of the individual poet but also of his worldview. This worldview surpasses the individual experiences and is an expression of the collective voice of the group with which the poet identifies himself.
19 citations
References
More filters
Book•
[...]
01 Jan 1960
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a theory for singing in Medieval Epic Appendices, including the Iliad, Odyssey, and Iliads, as well as some notes on medieval epics.
Abstract: Part I. The Theory 1. Introduction 2. Singers: Performance and Training 3. The Formula 4. The Theme 5. Songs and the Song 6. Writing and Oral Tradition Part II. The Application 7. Homer 8. The Odyssey 9. The Iliad 10. Some Notes on Medieval Epic Appendices Notes Index
1,514 citations