Introduction

            
How old is poetry? That is a strange remark
            that I heard the other day. The history of poetry is as old as
            the history of language. When man (and of course this includes
            women) first started speaking and telling tales around the fire,
            there was no doubt someone who spoke of the tribe and recounted
            its oral history. This is of course includes both conjecture
            and my fractured view of the world; however, even today when
            people gather there is always an individual who recalls tales
            of the group. And what easier way is there to put into context
            the tales of the tribe than to put them to song or in some type
            of easily remembered format.

            
 

            
Opening Salvo

            
The history of language parallels the history
            of people; handed down first orally and then in written form.
            Let's first look at the oral tradition in Biblical and Greek
            cultural times and then use of the traveling chivalric poets
            as examples (because these are familiar although I have studied
            the history of other languages and they all seem to follow a
            similar pattern: Chinese, Bushmen, etc.). Who were the first
            story tellers? What were there purpose?

            
In early groups there was a delineation
            of tasks. There were hunters and gatherers. There were warriors
            and those who guided the tribe spiritually and those who planned
            its nomadic routes. My belief is based on the research conducted
            about indigenous tribes in North and South Americas and in readings
            about South Pacific island cultures.

            
And in all of these cultures there was
            someone who told the deeds of the cultures heroes; and of the
            great and tragic activities of those who had come before current
            time. At times in certain cultures, these were the warrior poets
            who promoted the cult of heroic deeds. But, in both some of the
            native cultures of the Americas and of the Pacific peoples there
            are songs of great spiritual meaning that have been handed down
            from pre-historic times. All of these cultures and even our own
            have some creation tale. Even the Biblical tales were once only
            handed down from generation to generation orally.

            
 

            
The Reality of It All (as I see it anyway)

            
It wasn't until around 5,000 BC when the
            Biblical creation tales (and please no bricks - I know that they
            are the words of God, I'm just trying to make a point for the
            oral tradition) were written down and copied and carried with
            the tribes. The Torah is still anchored in its oral tradition,
            recited at Temple using cantors. Using recitation and memory
            keys the oral story teller would recite what they had been trained
            to do. Some of the best ways to remember a long tale is to put
            the words into some type of song. And, I'm not talking about
            the modern two and half minute tune that you might hear in your
            car or on your iPod; although these do, at times, reach artistic
            levels as well.

            
Because the tribes were nomadic and illiterate
            (and I'm not casting aspirations on their intelligence just their
            reading and writing preclusion's), among the tribal groups were
            those who were tasked with remembering and reciting the creation
            tale as handed down by God. Ancient Jewish, Christian, and Muslim
            cultures later picked up on these tales and made them their own.
            Even when these stories were written down, they were mainly told
            and understood orally for centuries. The story of Abraham was
            transmitted from place to place on the lips of priests, cantors,
            and traveling storytellers (poets). These travelers would recite
            the story of Abraham in either the court or in the tents of these
            nomadic folks. The story of David was often put into verse and
            all of the early Psalms are songs of instruction or songs of
            praise.

            
The Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psalms)
            states:

            

              
"Jewish tradition maintains that the
              Psalms are the work of David (seventy-three Psalms are with David's
              name), basing himself on the writings of ten ancient psalmists
              (including Adam and Moses). Many modern scholars see them as
              the product of several authors or groups of authors, many unknown.
              Most Psalms are prefixed with introductory words (which are frequently
              different in the Masoretic and Septuagint traditions, or missing
              in one while present in the other) ascribing them to a particular
              author or saying something, often in fairly cryptic language,
              about the circumstances of their composition; only 73 of these
              introductions claim David as author. Since the Psalms were not
              written down in Hebrew before the 6th century BCE, nearly half
              a millennium after David's reign (about 1000 BCE), they doubtless
              depended on oral or hymnal tradition for transmission of any
              Davidic material."

            
The oral history of the Iliad and
            the Odyssey is another example of the power of poetry.
            Even though Homer is considered the "author" of these
            two epic poems, he seems to be credited with recording these
            two oral, epic poems that served to both entertain and instruct
            ancient Greeks. Librarythinkquest.org (http://library.thinkquest.org/19300/data/Hist/slide6.htm)
            states:

            

              
"More archaeological evidence has
              recently revealed the possibility that Homer wrote much later
              than the 12 century B.C.E. Many scholars now believe that Homer
              was an Ionian of the 8th or 9th century B.C.E., which would place
              his writings also more than 3 centuries after the Trojan War,
              adding to the belief that Homer composed the Iliad and Odyssey
              from a large array of oral poetry that he had learned and new
              that had been passed down from generations upon generations,
              and he was simply the artifice of their being put into writing.
              However simple that task may have been, figuring out what exactly
              happened now is not so simple, nor either is the complexity of
              Homer's writings anything to be taken lightly or for granted.
              The author of these works shows their awesome ability to compose
              deep and intricate literature at a time when the majority of
              people in Greece didn't even know how to write."

            
In both of these ancient cultures we see
            the strong presence of the poet. The oral tradition lasts well
            into the time of the written word. Printed material was at a
            premium and was not as passed around as much as the traveling
            poet.

            
Jumping ahead in time to fifth century
            England, Beowulf is the best known example of the tradition of
            the oral epic poem. Beowulf was written in England, but is set
            in Scandinavia. It is an epic poem told in historical perspective;
            a story of epic events and of great people of a heroic past.
            Although the author is unknown, its themes and subject matter
            are generally believed to be formed through oral tradition, the
            passing down of stories by a scop (tale singers) and is considered
            partly historical.

            


            This tradition is carried through to the traveling minstrels
            of the chivalric period and every European culture has an example
            of the heroic epic. The tales of Arthur (Thomas Malory's Le Morte
            D'arthur) are a prime example of these stories told to amuse,
            entertain, and instruct. Other examples of this tradition that
            were sung or told include:

            

              


              The Divine Comedy: Purgatory by Dante Alighieri

              The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser

              Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso

              The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

              The Nibelungenlied by Anonymous

              The Poem of the Cid by Anonymous

              The Song of Roland by Anonymous

            
All of these epic poems were first recited,
            copied later, and then handed down in written form after the
            printed press. Of course there are written forms of all of these
            poems, but that is not how they traveled from court to castle.

            


            Is There A Conclusion and Disclaimer?

            


            Rather than drone on, there is a strong tradition of the poet
            in all of societies and cultures. Poets serve the purpose of
            transmitting both divine and mundane tradition. Poets were early
            moral instructors and wealthy and base entertainers. Next time
            you are at a poetry reading or recital, remember how far back
            our tradition actually goes. You are speaking on the shoulders
            of those who go back to the dawn of language.

            
As I state over and again this is not an
            academic paper. This is just my introduction to you. I hope that
            I have opened a window and that you will look out and feel the
            breeze of greatness. Thanks.

            

            
copyright Harry Furness

            
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