Die epische Formel in der deutschen Volksballade

The Text and the Voice

“…From this came a series of studies on Germanic, Anglo-Saxon, and Scandinavian ballads. 27 Six years ago Ruth Finnegan took stock of the situation in carefully measured terms and called into question several proposals which, around 1970, were on their way to becoming axiomatic. 28 In 1980 Adrian Fochi, in his book on "Esthetics of Orality"29 based on the study of Roumanian doine, suggested that formulaic style, far from being a mark of archaic usage within a poetic tradition, is more likely the relatively late result of an evolutionary process.…”