Abstract
The main aim of the article is to suggest a new (functional) approach to the stylistic study of medieval texts relation to the theory of oral-formulaic composition. According to the Parry-Lord theory, the formula is viewed as a solely utilitarian element, necessary for extempore composition during performance but lacking an aesthetic function. Formulas participate in the composition of written poems included in the annals of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle which have not hitherto been the object of scholarly attention. Formulas are endowed with new functions here, allowing to convey additional meanings. The arguments of the article elucidate the main function of formulaic style in written poetry which can be called “associative”: in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle poems formulas are used to unfold images and motifs with the purpose of establishing associations with traditional motifs and imagery of heroic and Christian poetry. The use of formulas is shown in the article to be a means which enables the creator of the poem to bring into prominence key motifs of their components, endowing them with associations with entire formulaic systems. In the poems of Anglo- Saxon Chronicle formulas, performing the role of a consciously cultivated literary aesthetic device, are not only assigned a new associative function but also enriched with new stylistic connotations, which in the article are called heroicizing, archaicizing, and nostalgic.
References
1 Veselovskii A.I. Istoricheskaia poetika [Historical рoetics]. Leningrad, Khudozh. lit. Publ., 1940. 649 p. (In Russ.)
2 Gurevich E.A. Parnaia formula v eddicheskoi poezii (Opyt analiza) [Binary formula in Eddic poetry. An attempt at analysis]. Khudozhestvennyi iazyk srednevekov’ia [Artistic Language of the Middle Ages]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1982, pp. 61–82. (In Russ.)
3 Zhirmunskii V.M. Srednevekovye literatury kak predmet sravnitel’nogo literaturovedeniia [Medieval literature as an object of comparative literary criticism]. Izvestiia AN SSSR. Otdelenie literatury i iazyka, 1971, vol. XXX, issue. 3, pp. 185–197. (In Russ.)
4 Zhirmunskii V.M. Sravnitel’noe literaturovedenie. Vostok i Zapad [Comparative literary studies. The East and the West]. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1979. 495 p. (In Russ.)
5 Lord A.B. Skazitel’ [The Singer of Tales], transl., сomm. by Iu.A. Kleinera, G.A. Levintona; afterword by B.N. Putilova, articles by A.I. Zaitseva, Iu.A. Kleinera; ex. ed. B.N. Putilov. Moscow, Izdat. firma “Vostochnaia literatura” RAN Publ., 1994. 368 p. (In Russ.)
6 Meletinskii E.M. Edda i rannie formy eposa [Edda and the earliest forms of epic]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1968. 367 p. (In Russ.)
7 Smirnitskaia O.A. Poeticheskoe iskusstvo anglosaksov [the poetic art of the Anglo- Saxons]. Drevneangliiskaia poeziia [Old English Poetry], edition prepared by O.A. Smirnitskaia. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1980, pp. 171–232. (In Russ.)
8 Smirnitskaia O.A. Stikh i iazyk drevnegermanskoi poezii [The verse and language of Old Germanic poetry]. Moscow, MGU Publ., 1994. 484 p. (In Russ.)
9 Steblin-Kamenskii M.I. Istoricheskaia poetika [Historical Poetics]. Leningrad, Izd.vo Leningradskogo un-ta Publ., 1978. 176 p. (In Russ.)
10 Acker P. Revisiting Oral Theory: Formulaic Composition in Old English and Old Icelandic Verse. London, Routledge, 1998. 154 p. (In English)
11 Amodio M.C. Writing the Oral Tradition. Oral Poetics and Literate Culture in Medieval England. Notre Dame, Indiana, University of Notre Dame Press, 2004. 298 p. (In English)
12 Benson L. The Literary Character of Anglo-Saxon Formulaic Poetry. Publications of the Modern Language Association, 81, 1966, pp. 334–341. (In English)
13 Brodeur A.G. The Art of Beowulf. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1959. 283 р. (In English)
14 Foley J.M. Oral-Formulaic Theory and Research: An Introduction and Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland, 1985. xvi+718 p. (In English)
15 Frog. Alvissmal and Orality I: Formula, Alliteration and Categories of Mythic Being. Arkiv for nordisk filologi, 2011, vol. 126, pp. 17–71. (In English)
16 Fry D. Old English Formulas and Systems. English Studies, 1967, vol. 48, pp. 193–204. (In English)
17 Greenfield S.B. Grendel’s Approach to Heorot: Syntax and Poetry. Old English Poetry: Fifteen Essays, ed. by R. P. Creed. Providence (Rhode Island), Brown University Press, 1967, pp. 275–284. (In English)
18 Greenfield S.B. The Formulaic Expression of the Theme of Exile in Anglo-Saxon Poetry. Essential Articles for the Study of Old English Poetry, eds. by J.B. Bessinger, St.J. Karl. Hamden, Connecticut, Archon Books, 1968, pp. 352–362. (In English)
19 Greenfield S.B. The Interpretation of Old English Poems. London, Routledge and K. Paul, 1972. 188 p. (In English)
20 Kendall C.B. The Metrical Grammar of Beowulf. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1991. xvi+318 p. (In English)
21 Dobbie E. van K. The Anglo-Saxon Minor Poems. Vol. 6. The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records: A Collective Edition. 6 vols. New York, Columbia University Press, 1942. clxxx + 220 р. (In English)
22 Lord A.B. The Singer of Tales Cambridge Massachusetts. Harvard University Press, 1960. xv + 309 p. (In English)
23 Lord A.B. Perspectives on Recent Work on Oral Literature. Oral Literature. Seven Essays, ed. by J.J. Duggan. Edinburgh, Scottish Academic Press, 1975, pp. 1–24. (In English)
24 Lonnroth L. Ior. fannz .va ne upphiminn: a Formula Analysis. Speculum Norroenum: Norse Studies in Memory of Gabriel Turville-Petre, eds. by U. Dronke, Gu.run P. Helgadottir, G. W.Weber, H. Bekker-Nielsen. Odense, Odense University Press, 1981, pp. 310–327. (In Corsican, English)
25 Magoun F.P. Oral-Formulaic Character of Anglo-Saxon Narrative Poetry. Essential Articles for the Study of Old English Poetry, eds. by J.B. Bessinger, St.J. Karl. Hamden, Connecticut: Archon Books, 1968, pp. 319–351. (In English)
26 Mazo J.A. Compound Diction and Traditional Style in Beowulf and Genesis А. Oral Tradition, 6/1, 1991, pp. 79–92. (In English)
27 Mellor Sc.A. Analyzing Ten Poems from the Poetic Edda: Oral Formula and Mythic Patterns. Lewiston, Edwin Mellen Press, 2008. 321 р. (In English)
28 Niles J. Formula and Formulaic System in Beowulf. Oral Traditional Literature: A Festschrift for Albert Bates Lord, ed. by J.M. Foley. Columbus, Ohio, Slavica Publishers, 1981, pp. 394–415. (In English)
29 O’Brien O’Keefe K. Deaths and Transformations: Thinking through the ‘End’ of Old English Verse. New Directions in Oral Theory, ed. by M. Amodio. Tempe, Arizona, Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2005, pp. 149–178. (In English)
30 Olsen A.H. Oral-Formulaic Research in Old English Studies. Part I. Oral Tradition, 1986, vol. 1, pp. 548–606. (In English)
31 Olsen А.Н. Oral-Formulaic Research in Old English Studies. Part II. Oral Tradition, 1988, vol. 3, pp. 138-190. (In English)
32 Orchard A. A Critical Companion to Beowulf. Cambridge, D.S. Brewer, 2003. 396 p. (In English)
33 Parry M. Studies in the Epic Technique of Oral Verse-Making, I: Homer and the Homeric Style. Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 1930, vol. 41, pp. 73–148. (In English)
34 Parry M. Studies in the Epic Technique of Oral Verse-Making, II: the Homeric Language as Language of Oral Poetry. Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 1932, vol. 43, pp. 1–50. (In English)
35 Renoir A. Oral-Formulaic Context: Implications for the Comparative Criticism of Mediaeval Texts. Oral Traditional Literature: A Festschrift for Albert Bates Lord, ed. by J. M. Foley. Columbus, Ohio, Slavica Publishers, 1981, pp. 416–439. (In English)
36 Renoir A. Repetition, Oral-Formulaic Style, and Affective Impact in Mediaeval Poetry: A Tentative Illustration. Comparative Research on Oral Traditions: A Memorial for Milman Parry, ed. by John Miles Foley. Columbus, Ohio, Slavica Publishers, 1987, pp. 533–548. (In English)
37 Rogers H.L. The Crypto-Psychological Character of the Oral Formula. English Studies 47, 1966, pp. 89–102. (In English)
38 Russom G. Aesthetic Criteria in Old English Heroic Style. On the Aesthetics of Beowulf and Other Old English poems, ed. by Hill John H. Toronto; Buffalo, University of Toronto Press, 2010, pp. 64–80. (In English)
39 Stanley E.G. Beowulf. Stanley E.G. Continuations and Beginnings: Studies in Old English Literature. London, Nelson, 1966, pp. 104–140. (In English)
40 Stevick R.D. The Oral-formulaic Analysis of Old English Verse. Essential Articles for the Study of Old English Poetry, eds. by J.B. Bessinger, St.J. Karl. Hamden, Connecticut, Archon Books, 1968, pp. 393–403. (In English)
41 Savborg D. The Formula in Icelandic Saga Prose. Saga-Book of the Viking Society for Northern Research. London, University College London, 2018, pp. 51–86. (In English)
42 Thorvaldsen B.O. Sva er sagt i fornum visindum: Tekstualiseringen av de mytologiske eddadikt. Bergen, Universitetet i Bergen, 2006. 427 p. (In Norwegian)
