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Copyright

Ruth Finnegan;

Published On

2025-05-28

Page Range

pp. 69–112

Language

  • English

Print Length

44 pages

3. Composition

  • Ruth Finnegan (author)
Chapter of: Oral Poetry(pp. 69–112)
In this chapter, the complex and multifaceted nature of oral poetry composition is explored, addressing key questions about how oral poets create and perform their work. Scholars have debated whether performers memorize poems verbatim, improvise spontaneously, or use a mix of pre-learned formulas and real-time composition. This chapter suggests that no single method universally applies to all oral poetry traditions, highlighting the diverse strategies poets use based on cultural context, audience interaction, and the specific genre of poetry.
The chapter critically examines the memorization theory, once widely accepted, which viewed oral poets as mere conduits for long-standing traditions. Through examples such as Somali poetry, the Sunjata epic, and Kirghiz heroic poetry, the author demonstrates that many oral performers actively compose during performance, often tailoring their work to the audience and occasion. The ‘oral-formulaic’ theory, which proposes that oral poets rely on formulaic language to facilitate composition, is explored in detail, revealing both its strengths and limitations in understanding oral poetry across cultures. Ultimately, this chapter emphasizes the dynamic interplay between memorization, improvisation, and audience engagement in the creation of oral poetry.

Contributors

Ruth Finnegan

(author)
Fellow at British Academy
Honorary Fellow of Somerville College at University of Oxford

Ruth Finnegan FBA OBE was born in 1933 in the beautiful fraught once-island city of Derry, Northern Ireland, and brought up there, together with several magical years during the war in Donegal. She had her education at the little Ballymore First School in County Donegal, Londonderry High School, Mount (Quaker) School York, then first class honours in Classics (Literae humaniores) and a doctorate in Anthropology at Oxford. This was followed by fieldwork and university teaching in Africa, principally Sierra Leone and Nigeria. She then joined the pioneering Open University as a founding member of the academic staff, where she spent the rest of her career apart from three years – and more fieldwork – at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, and is now, proudly, an Open University Emeritus Professor. She was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1996, and is also an Honorary Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford. Ruth has published two books with OBP, Why Do We Quote? The Culture and History of Quotation (2011), https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0012, and Oral Literature in Africa (2012), https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0025.