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I.TheMethodologicalBackground
icalschoolswhichdealtwiththeissueintwodistinctways.Theviewof
theAnalysts,sometimescalledalsotheSeparatists,firstputforwardby
FriedrichAugustWolf,wasthattheepicstraditionallyattributedtoHomer
arecollationsofpreviouslycomposedtextscombinedtogethertoform
aroughlycoherentnarrative.Theadvocatesofanalternativeview,referred
toastheUnitarians,maintainedthattheoverallqualityofthepoemsis
toohighforthemtobeanythingelsethanindividualcreationsofasingle
mindofgreatpoeticability.
Quiteindependentlyfromthisacademicdebate,anincreasedinterest
infolkandpopularcultureaswellasanincreasedappreciationofits
uniquenessandintrinsicvalueforseriousacademicstudy,whichwerethe
phenomenaultimatelyrelatedtotheemergenceofRomanticismatthe
turnofthenineteenthcentury,resultedinasignificantchangeofapproach
towardsthemuchmoreimmediatelyaccessibleformoforalliterature–the
folkballad.Thus,whiletheattitudeofthepreviouseighteenth-century
balladcollectorsandantiquarians3likeThomasD’Ufey,AllanRamsay,
WilliamShetstoneorBishopPercy,hadbeenmarkedbyignoranceand
disregardfortheculturalcontextsurroundingtheircomposition,the
scholarsorarchivistswhoundertooktocollectandstudythetextsofthe
folkballadinthenineteenthcentury,likeProf.FrancisChild,PeterBuchan,
orCecilSharp,werecharacterizedbyagreatattentivenesstothecultural
specificityofthekindofliteraturetheysoughttopreserve,and,whilethey
didnotprovideamethodologicalframeworktodealexhaustivelywiththe
popularballadinrelationtothequestionoforality,theireffortspenton
providingarichcorpusofuniquelyandadequatelypreservedoralgenre
forthesubsequentgenerationsofscholarstostudyhasprovedpriceless.
Althoughtheconceptoftheoralformuladidnotdevelopinthecontext
ofthestudydoneontheballadgenreduringthenineteenthcentury,some
ofthework,mostnotablythemomentoustaskofcollectingtheballad
textsfromtheiroriginal,oralenvironmentandlinkingthemonthebasis
ofthemesandmotifs,whichwasthelifeworkofProf.Child,wouldlay
solidfoundationsforthestudiesoftheballadasanoralgenre,which
floweredinthetwentiethcentury.
3FormoredetailsseeHeylin(1999:8-19).
