The Singer of Tales by Albert B. Lord
"The Singer of Tales" by Albert B. Lord is a pivotal work in the study of oral literature, particularly focusing on the tradition of epic poetry as demonstrated in Yugoslavian culture. The book builds on the ideas of Lord's mentor, Milman Parry, who theorized that the language of the Homeric epics relies heavily on traditional formulas, crafted by oral poets during performance without written aids. Lord's study is grounded in firsthand observations of living epic singers in Yugoslavia, where he documented their methods and techniques, showcasing how they create and perform songs by employing a repertoire of established phrases and themes.
Divided into two main sections, the first part delves into the intricacies of oral poetry production, including the training of singers and the nature of formulas, while the second part applies these insights to analyze the works of Homer, particularly the "Iliad" and "Odyssey." Lord's comparative approach has reshaped scholars' understanding of oral traditions, emphasizing the dynamic relationship between tradition and creativity. Since its publication in 1960, "The Singer of Tales" has become a foundational text, influencing the study of oral literature across diverse cultures, from Beowulf to South African poetry, and remains a critical resource for understanding the principles of oral composition.
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Subject Terms
The Singer of Tales by Albert B. Lord
First published: 1960
Type of work: Literary criticism
Form and Content
The Singer of Tales has its origin in work begun by Albert B. Lord’s teacher Milman Parry. It was Parry’s theory that the language of the Homeric poems is to a large extent a language of traditional formulas, created over a long period of time by poets who composed their songs without the aid of writing. Homer, according to Parry, was an oral poet who composed as he performed, using ready-made and largely inherited phrases varying in length from one or two words to several lines. In the approximately twenty-eight thousand verses that make up the eighth century b.c.e.Iliad and Odyssey, about one-fifth of the verses are repeated word-for-word from one place to another; there are also some twenty-five thousand repeated phrases. It is the repetition of verse or phrases that makes it a formula and marks it as a product of oral poetry.
Between the years 1933 and 1935, Parry made two trips to Yugoslavia to confirm the conclusions he had formed about the Homeric texts by observing a living tradition of epic poetry as practiced by illiterate (for the most part) Serbo-Croatian singers of tales. At the time of his accidental death in 1935, Parry had collected 12,500 texts—some on phonograph records and some taken down during dictation—which form the Milman Parry Collection in the Harvard University library. Parry had been able to publish some of his work, but it was supplemented and carried on by one of his students, Albert Lord, who had accompanied him as an assistant on his second trip. Lord not only was with Parry when he made his collection but also made three later trips to Yugoslavia (in 1935, 1950, and 1951), during which he was able to record the same poets singing the same songs they had sung sixteen years earlier.
At the time of his death, Parry had written the first few pages of a book to be titled The Singer of Tales, which was to deal in a comprehensive way with the material he had collected in Yugoslavia. Beginning afresh, Lord carried on Parry’s projected work as a doctoral dissertation at Harvard in 1949; he later revised it for publication under the same title in 1960.
Lord’s book (309 pages) is divided into two parts. The first part gives an admirable account of exactly how Yugoslavian oral poetry is produced. In five chapters he considers the training and performances of singers, exactly what a formula is and how it works, the themes about which the singers compose their songs, the status of a finished song, and the relationship between tradition and writing.
The second part of the book attempts to apply the knowledge gained from Yugoslavian material to Homer as an oral poet and to the two poems attributed to him, the Odyssey and the Iliad (in that order, though the Iliad is generally considered to have been composed first). The last chapter is devoted to short essays on Beowulf (sixth century c.e.), Chanson de Roland (c. 1100; The Song of Roland), and the Digenis Akritas epic. A series of six appendices offers a comparison of two different poets singing the same song, different versions of the same song performed by the same poet on four different occasions, summaries of a number of “return” and “reurn-rescue” songs, an example of father-son transmission, and the text and translation of the “Song of Milman Parry,” produced by an oral poet at Neesnje in 1933.
Critical Context
The Singer of Tales shows how oral composition is possible during an actual performance. The poet relies on traditional formulas and themes; he does not memorize his composition but is able to draw on a large stock of ready-made phrases and themes to compose a new poem every time he performs. Perhaps the best illustration of the oral poet’s technique is the example cited in The Singer of Tales. Avdo Medjedovic, certainly the most accomplished singer in Parry’s and Lord’s experience, was present when another poet, not so accomplished as Medjedovic, performed a poem which Medjedovic had never heard before. After the song was over, he was asked if he could now sing the same song. He immediately proceeded to do so but to a length nearly three times as long as that of the song he had just heard—6,313 lines as compared with 2,294. Medjedovic was relying on his mastery of traditional formulas and on his ability to elaborate using traditional themes.
Since its publication, Lord’s The Singer of Tales has held its position as the fountainhead of research in oral literature of all sorts, not only in epic poetry, for it was the first to show the way, and it continues to do so in this vast field of study. Lord’s method is analogical. He applies his observations of a living oral tradition in Yugoslavia to earlier literature, primarily to the Homeric poems in The Singer of Tales, and thereby illuminates the form and structure of those earlier literatures. Since Lord’s book, scholars may no longer impose on oral literature an often irrelevant model drawn from written literature, with its emphasis on a fixed text and on an “original” and “correct” version. Moreover, scholars now understand more clearly the important relationship between tradition and originality in oral composition. Although the oral poet relies on traditional formulas and themes (that is, on the work of his predecessors), he displays his individual creativity in the actual singing of his song.
Thus, from Beowulf to Xhosa and Zulu oral poetry in South Africa, the research of many scholars progresses following the pattern established by The Singer of Tales. Lord’s own special interests are in Slavic literature, and his research since the publication of his monumental work continues in that area primarily, though he comes back to Homer from time to time. As for The Singer of Tales, it is generally still regarded as the single most important work in the field.
Bibliography
Finnegan, Ruth. Oral Poetry: Its Nature, Significance, and Social Context, 1977.
Foley, John Miles. Introduction to Oral Traditional Literature: A Festschrift for Albert Bates Lord, 1981.
Kirk, G.S. The Songs of Homer, 1962.
Parry, Adam, ed. The Making of Homeric Verse: The Collected Papers of Milman Parry, 1971.
Young, Douglas. “Never a Blotted Line? Formula and Premeditation in Homer and Hesiod,” in Essays on Classical Literature Selected from “Arion,” 1972. Edited by Niall Rudd.