Oral Poetry

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Abstract
Poems that are unwritten either because the cultures in which they occur are partially or wholly nonliterate (like the traditional native cultures of Africa, Australia, Oceania, and America) or because oral forms are cherished despite a population’s overall literacy. The exact scope of the term is disputed, but it usually also includes poetry originally composed and per formed orally that has reached us through written transmission, like some of the early epics. Some scholars also include poetry transmitted or performed by nonwritten media, such as broadcast performances or modern pop lyrics. Oral poetry takes many forms. Oral epics are widely found, particularly in Eurasia, from historic cases like the early Babylonian, Greek, and Indian epics to the later Finnish Kalevala and contemporary or near contemporary Asian examples like Kirghiz or Mongol narrative poetry or the modern Indian Pa buji epic. Ballads-shorter or more lyrical narratives-are particularly associated with Euro-American tradition but are found in arguably comparable form in various areas of the world.

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