Homer was not the only singer of tales. He was just one member of a larger group of singers who continue to perpetuate oral cultures. These cultures are the focus of this book, a study of how these singers acquire and formulate their tales in such a way that allows the tradition to continue.

The study undertaken by Albert Lord in the late fifties grew out of a project started by Milman Parry at Harvard College some twenty years earlier. Because of his close analysis of the Iliad and the Odyssey, Parry had become convinced that Homer was an epic poet. He then set out to distinguish the form of oral poetry from that of written poetry. To do this, he turned to Yugoslav epic tradition because in this culture, the oral tradition not only still exists, but exists without reading or writing. Albert Lord continued Parry's work in studying Yugoslav epics.

 Oral epic poetry is a collaborative composition that takes place over many generations. Oral in this sense differs from that of simply reciting written poetry or creating improvisational poetry upon performance. In the sense in which it is used in this book, the moment that the singer renders his poetry is a combination of composing, reciting, and performing.

The singers create meaning through rhythm by drawing from a collection of formulas and formulaic expressions. Parry defines a formula as "a group of words which is regularly employed under the same metrical conditions to express a given essential idea" (30). A formulaic expression, therefore, is a group of formulas that make up a line of this poetry; and the theme, a larger collection of formulas and expressions that repeat both throughout one song and across the songs of many singers. Although the framework of each song is essentially the same, each singer adds his own style to the song by ornamenting the story, or adding rich detail. Thus, each has a distinctive personality.

Despite the similarity of the songs' structures, at the time of performance, each poet is the sole author of that poem for his audience. While he is before his audience, he is both an artist and the messenger of a culture. While Parry and Lord were able to detect strong patterns across the songs, they also noted that each was unique. The flexibility of the poem is a result of the demands brought on by their environment as the theme develops. When he begins singing,  the poet may not even know the end of his own story.

The process by which an epic poet composes his prose may be quite unfamiliar to those of us who depend on writing. Lord observed a three-step process followed by most singers:

1.     Period of listening and absorbing
2.     Period of application or imitation
3.     Singing before a critical audience

Listening and absorbing The process begins when a young man listens to established singers to observe their particular styles and mannerisms, extracting for himself those styles he would like to incorporate in his own poetry. The apprentices are not daunted by the great length of the poems because, for them, the boundaries of a word does not exist. The memorization process for them involves what they refer to as "line for line and word for word," yet for them, this means "like" (25). There is no exact replication as there is in literate cultures.

Application and imitation In the application process, a young man mostly imitates his master rather than mimicking a song. By repeating what he has heard, he learns enough of the formulas to create his own poetry. When he can sing a song in its entirety for a critical audience, the application process is finished.

Listening and absorbing After he can sing a song from beginning to end, the young poet begins to build and refine his repertoire. Because he is practicing before a critical audience for the first time, he has the opportunity to start ornamenting his songs. The listening and absorbing process is finished when his collection is large enough that he can perform before an audience for several nights.

Because of the flexible nature of oral poetry, the singer is never finished adding to his compositions. He will continue to enrich and refine his poetry throughout his life. Thus, the same story not only varies among singers, but for one singer over time. How many times the song is sung, the nature of the song itself, and its length all affect the composition of formulas and themes. Every time a song is sung, it is original.

This dynamic poetry synthesizes the solid traditions of a culture with the fluidity of contemporary meanings. While the singer is constantly changing his poetry, he is also continuing a legacy. The traditional oral epic singer is, therefore, not a performer, but preservationist of tradition.