I have to admit, it was a little daunting to hear our Prof. say," 'Orality and Literacy' is a tough read." So I began reading this book with some trepidation. However, I surprisingly found the subject matter interesting and almost a little riveting. I am currently halfway through chapter 3 but anticipate being close to finished with this book by Thursday, since I don't have a choice anyway. But I digress. This blog entry is about orality and literacy, or more appropriately, my association of Homer's epic poems with rock opera.
You might be asking yourself, "how could she possibly be associating Homer with Pink Floyd?" It was Milman Parry's discovery that "virtually ever distinctive feature of Homeric poetry is due to the economy enforced on it by oral methods of composition. These can be reconstructed by careful study of the verse itself..." (Orality and Literacy, Walter J. Ong, pg 21) That explanation turned the light bulb on in my head and Another Brick In The Wall started spinning on my mental turntable; needle on vinyl. I can remember listening to that song as a kid, the repetitious lyrics reverberating in my memory.
It's a strange correlation I guess, but as I read about mnemonic patterns, the primary oral culture, literate vs. illiterate peoples, hexameter, metric formulas and the sophistication of Homer's poems, all I could hear in my head was, "Wrong, do it again! If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding! How can you have any pudding if you don't eat yer meat?!" (Note: (for those who actually listened to or watched the provided link) It's interesting to know that the poem the teacher reads from Pink's notebook are the lyrics to Money.)
Anyway, what I'm getting at is this: the orality that can be associated with Homer's Odyssey and Iliad with it's metered verse feels no different than Pink Floyd's rock opera The Wall. Before written word there was only oral communication. Bards, troubadors, versifiers, minstrals, poets and songsters...their rhapsodized words committed all those stories, histories, proverbs and verses to memory. It's no wonder that early childhood education begins with nursery rhymes and quaint songs.
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