How to Read an Oral Poem by John Miles Foley
Though they appear diverse, Homer's Odyssey and slam poetry from contemporary urban America both draw from the well of oral tradition. This unique, practical, and user-friendly guide explores the cultural contexts of verbal art to provide more-than-textual methods for understanding the structure, principles, and social applications of oral poetry. Using dozens of examples, including a North American slam poet, a Tibetan paper-singer, a South African praise-poet, and an ancient Greek bard, John Miles Foley shows that although oral poetry long predates the invention of writing, it continues to be a vital culture-making and communications tool in societies all over the world. Based on fieldwork and archival research on epics, folktales, lyrics, laments, charms, and other oral traditions, How to Read an Oral Poem answers the questions, What is oral poetry? How does it work? What is reading, literally and figuratively? The book can also be used as companion volume to Foley's Teaching Oral Traditions.
A CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title, 2004
William H. Foley is John Miles Foley. At the University of Missouri at Columbia, he is the Byler Chair in the Humanities, Curators' Professor of Classical Studies and English, and Director of the Center for Studies in Oral Tradition. He has twenty publications to his credit, including How to Read an Oral Poetry.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780252070822 |
| ISBN 10 | 0252070828 |
| Title | How to Read an Oral Poem |
| Author | John Miles Foley |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | University of Illinois Press |
| Year published | 2002-10-22 |
| Number of pages | 280 |
| Prizes | Winner of A CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title, 2004. 2004 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |