Milman Parry
Quick Summary
Milman Parry was an American scholar who significantly impacted the study of epic poetry, particularly the works attributed to Homer. He is associated with the oral-formulaic theory, which posits that poems like the Iliad and the Odyssey originated from a living oral tradition rather than being solely the work of a single author. Parry's research, which included fieldwork, demonstrated that oral poets inherited and reshaped traditional phrases and plots, suggesting that Homeric poetry was a dynamic composition within this tradition. This theory helped move scholarly debate beyond the traditional Analyst versus Unitarian viewpoints on Homeric authorship.12
Ask Britannica AI about this topic
Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.
HomerHomer as an oral poet…name of an American scholar, Milman Parry, that the Homeric tradition was an oral one—that this was a kind of poetry made and passed down by word of mouth and without the intervention of writing. Indeed Homer’s own term for a poet is aoidos, “singer.” The Odyssey describes two such…
Read More…name of an American scholar, Milman Parry, that the Homeric tradition was an oral one—that this was a kind of poetry made and passed down by word of mouth and without the intervention of writing. Indeed Homer’s own term for a poet is aoidos, “singer.” The Odyssey describes two such…
Read More- classical scholarshipClassical scholarship in the 20th century
…proof of an American scholar, Milman Parry (1902–35), that the poems show many characteristics of a poetic tradition that has passed through a long phase of oral transmission.
Read More…proof of an American scholar, Milman Parry (1902–35), that the poems show many characteristics of a poetic tradition that has passed through a long phase of oral transmission.
Read More 
writingWriting as a system of signsThe American scholar Milman Parry, writing in the 1920s, showed that the Homeric epic poems, long regarded as models of literary virtuosity, were in fact the product not of a literate but of an oral tradition. These poems were produced by bards who could not write and were…
Read MoreThe American scholar Milman Parry, writing in the 1920s, showed that the Homeric epic poems, long regarded as models of literary virtuosity, were in fact the product not of a literate but of an oral tradition. These poems were produced by bards who could not write and were…
Read More- heroic poetry
…1934 the American Homeric scholar Milman Parry transcribed an epic poem of 12,000 lines (the length of the Odyssey) from an illiterate bard in southern Serbia. Equally astonishing feats of memory and improvisation were reported by Russian scholars working among Uzbek and Kyrgyz bards.
Read More…1934 the American Homeric scholar Milman Parry transcribed an epic poem of 12,000 lines (the length of the Odyssey) from an illiterate bard in southern Serbia. Equally astonishing feats of memory and improvisation were reported by Russian scholars working among Uzbek and Kyrgyz bards.
Read More 
oral traditionDiscovery and rediscovery…for example, two American scholars, Milman Parry and Albert Lord, conducted extensive fieldwork on oral tradition in the former Yugoslavia. They recorded more than 1,500 orally performed epic poems in an effort to determine how stories that often reached thousands of lines in length could be recalled and performed by…
Read More…for example, two American scholars, Milman Parry and Albert Lord, conducted extensive fieldwork on oral tradition in the former Yugoslavia. They recorded more than 1,500 orally performed epic poems in an effort to determine how stories that often reached thousands of lines in length could be recalled and performed by…
Read More