Characteristics of Oral Literature: Before things were written down and then filmed, authors used a whole
different set of literary devices to achieve their effect. If we are to understand the language of mythology, we
need to know these techniques they used, techniques that are still widely used today.
1. Repetition: The repeated use of any element of language—a sound, a word, a phrase, a clause, or a
sentence. Careless repetition bores a reader, but successful repetition links ideas and emphasizes the
main point.
from The Epic of Gilgamesh:
He commanded walls for Uruk and for Eanna, our holy ground, walls that you can see still; walls where
weep the weary widows of dead soldiers. Go to them and touch their immovable presence with gentle
finger to find yourself. No one else ever built such walls.
from “Still” by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg:
Dr. Dre is the name, I'm ahead of my game…
Still not loving police (Uh huh)
Still rock my khakis with a cuff and a crease
Still got love for the streets, repping 213
Still the beat bangs, still doing my thang
Since I left, ain't too much changed, still
The Anglo-Saxon poetry of Beowulf uses repetition of consonant sounds from the first half of the line to
the second (this technique, called alliteration, is also imitated in these lines from Seamus Heaney’s
recent translation):
The fortunes of war favoured Hrothgar (line 64)
the highest in the land
would lend advice (line 172)
and find friendship in the Father’s embrace (line 188)
See if you can find the alliteration in this passage of Beowulf in the original Old English:
Ðá wæs on burgum
Béowulf Scyldinga
léof léodcyning
longe þráge
folcum gefraége
--fæder ellor hwearf
The method of alliteration also provides subtle music in the beginning lines of Robert Frost’s poem “An
Old Man’s Winter Night”:
All out-of-doors looked darkly in at him
Through the thin frost, almost in separate stars
2. Rhythm: The pattern of beats, or stressed and unstressed syllables, in spoken or written language. Oral
and traditional poetry often follows a regular rhythmical pattern.
Beowulf’s rhythm is guided by the fundamental pattern of four stresses to the line. Once again,
Heaney’s translation of the Old English attempts to preserve this pattern:
We have heárd of those prínces
heróic campáigns
and he cróssed óver into the Lórd’s kéeping
Rhythm continues to be used widely in poetry, even in the “free” verse of William Carlos Williams, in
this case with one stress per line:
I have éaten
the plúms
that were ín
the íce box
and whích
you were próbably
sáving
for bréakfast
Forgíve me
they were delícious
so swéet
and so cóld
3. Parallelism: The repetition of a grammatical structure to emphasize or link related ideas.
The Hebrew poetry in the biblical book of Psalms provides one of the best-recorded examples of
parallelism. Notice the use of parallel statements to build emphasis in Psalm 19:
8
9
10
11
The law of the Lord is perfect,
refreshing the soul
The decree of the Lord is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
The command of the Lord is clear,
enlightening the eye;
The fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever;
The ordinances of the Lord are true,
all of them just
They are more precious than gold,
than a heap of purest gold
Sweeter also than syrup
or honey from the comb.
This same parallelism was used by Martin Luther King Jr.—a preacher well versed in the patterns of
Hebrew biblical poetry—in his “I Have a Dream” speech to create an emphatic effect that builds in
intensity:
With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this
faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony
of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle
together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one
day.