Oral Tradition, 3/1-2 (1988): 88-105 A Formulaic Analysis of Samples Taken from the Shâhnâma of Firdowsi

Milman Parry’s working defi nition of the formula is as follows: “a group of words which is regularly employed under the same metrical conditions to express a given essential idea ” (1971:272). This defi nition, devised by Parry on the basis of his work on Homeric poetry, before he even started work on the living poetry of the South Slavic tradition, has proved both useful and enduring despite the need of one small adjustment. Ironically, this adjustment has been prompted at least partly by the evidence of Homeric poetry itself: it can be shown that the metrical conditions of the formula can vary, although this variation itself is systematic (Ingalls 1972:111-14). Thus it may be useful to revise the phrase “under the same metrical conditions ” in Parry’s working defi nition and to read instead “under fi xed metrical conditions. ” It is also useful to stress the phrase “to express a given essential idea, ” since this aspect of Parry’s defi nition has often been undervalued or even missed altogether