Chapter 11 - The Oral Structure of the Poem

Summary

TO ASSIST THE memory, epic oral narrative relies extensively on stock phrases and expressions and other standardized themes and patterns. The preference for poetry which oral tradition in low-technology societies shows is quite natural, given the wider scope which it offers for the employment of mnemonic devices. Oral literature the world over typically makes frequent use of alliteration, assonance, and rhythm, of formulaic expressions, stock epithets and synonyms, of simile, metaphor, repetition and exaggeration, and of contrast and variation. Other characteristic features include additive structure, embedded speeches, poetry within poetry, episodic digressions, a lack of cyclical structure, references to the future in the past tense, and indications of recitation to an audience. In the case of larger poetic works, moreover, internal contradictions are not unusual (Ong 1982; Lord 1987).

Quite clearly, Beowulf abounds in such features (Pilch and Tristram 1979, 83–120, 160–72; Irving 1989), a point which no one seems to deny.

The need for variation in expression is closely linked to the requirements of metre, and to the fact that advanced reliance on memory is based to a large extent on visual associations that have to be varied if they are to work. And sure enough, we find that Beowulf does not make do with one or two words for key concepts such as “king,” “warrior,” “nobleman,” “sword,” “mail shirt,” “ship” and “sea,” but often juggles ten to twenty synonyms, counting simplex forms alone, along with whole hosts of often quite graphic compounds. For the concept of “hero,” no fewer than thirty-seven different expressions are used, on top of which there are numerous intricate kennings and other circumlocutions. For the main protagonist Beowulf, a hundred and one different epithets appear, for Hrothgar fifty-six. For the concept of “house” or “hall,” thirteen different words are employed, counting only the simplex forms (Schemann 1882).

In A Critical Companion to Beowulf, Andy Orchard provides a list of formulaic phrases in the poem running to no fewer than forty pages, although he notes that it could be greatly extended (Orchard 2003, 274–314). Of course, views may differ as to what constitutes a formula.

Exaggerations in the poem appear, in particular, in the way kings and nobles are portrayed in glowing colours, sometimes with sharp contrasts between good and bad qualities.