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I.TheMethodologicalBackground
previousgenerationsofscholarsnotalwaysfavourablydisposedtoaccepting
theoralmodesofliterarycompositionashavingaroleintheMiddle
Englishromances.Thussomeoftheacademicworkconductedinthe
1980sseemstohaveoverestimatedtheroleofthepurelyoraltradition
fortheromancegenre.
ThuswhatourmethodologytakesfromQuinnandHall’sstudyare
thekeydefinitionswhichare,however,harnessedtoyieldananalysisof
atextcomposedinadifferentway,butalsoonewhichmustbedefined
intermsofaninterplaybetweenoralityandliteracy,and,moreover,the
focusoftheanalysiswhichwillalsobeontheformulaicstructureswithin
thestructureofthepoemsanalysed–hencetheconceptualapparatus
developedinJongleurisapplicableandusefulforthissortofanalysis.
Aroundthesametimethetermflcluster”becamepartofthemeth-
odologicalapparatusfordealingwiththeMiddleEnglishalliterativeverse
andinthiscontextitisimportanttomentiontheworkofJeanRitzke-
Rutherford,whodevelopedthetermina1981articleonthealliterative
MorteArthure.
Anotherimportantstudywhichtacklestheissueoftheformulaic
patternsintheMiddleEnglishromancewaspublishedin1987byCarol
FewsterunderthetitleTraditionalityandGenreinMiddleEnglishRomance.
Theneedtomentionthebookstemsfromthefactthatitismostimme-
diatelyrelatedtothetopicofthepresentstudyasitundertakestorelate
theconventionalfeaturesofthetail-rhymeandoctosyllabiccoupletromance
toitsformulaiccharacter.TheargumentseekstobuilduponWittig’sfind-
ings,andtheauthordiscussesanumberofformulaeinthecontextoftheir
functioninthestructureofthenarrative.Fewsterdoesnot,however,
attemptanysystematicclassificationofthetypesofformulaeinthecourse
ofthestudyandsheismoreinterestedintheroleoftheconventional
structuresoflanguageintheimageryandnarrativeflowofthepoemsthan
inthembeingevidenceoforaldelivery.13Thescopeforanalysisisthus
wellandpreciselydefinedanditwouldbedifficultnottonoticetheinci-
sivenessofagreatmanyofFewster’sdetailedanalysesofparticularpassages
ofthediscussedromancetexts,notleastofAmisandAmiloun,towhich
shedevotesawholechapter,asindeeddoesthepresentstudy.
ThereasonwhyFewster’sexcellentpublicationdoesnotalwaysexhaust
theissuesshesoexpertlyhandlesisthatonmanyoccasionsitappearsas
ifonlyaconsciouslyandsustainedlyappliedoral-formulaicmethodmay
13SeethenegativeevaluationofCrosby’sargument–Fewster(1987:25-27).
