Q2. What are some possible features of residual (or secondary) orality preserved in Voluspa, according to the criteria Ong (1982) advances?
Voluspa was orginally circulated by pure traditional verbal culture (primary orality) until its chirographic preservation allowed the historical piece to become a feature of residual secondary orality. According to Ong's criteria, the written word acts as a physical representation (or residue) of what was once pure and completely untouched by any knowledge of writing and print.
From this standpoint, it is quite possible to see the residual features that have been translated into the Voluspa extracts. For example in the first stanza, the lines 'Hear my words, you holy gods' and 'by Odin's will, I'll speak the ancient lore' clearly indicate that this poem was originally a verbal performance before it was adapted into secondary orality.
Futher forms of adaption appear in the 6th and 8th stanza of extract 1.b with the lines 'Then the holy gods met to give judgement ... ordered time by years' and 'Odin gave life's breath, Hoenir gave mind ...etc'. The mention of 'gods' and a breath of life allude to the writer's biblical knowledge of Christianity and the story of creation. A reference to 'demons' and 'men find their way to hell' further implies an understanding of Christianity and or the bible.
Hey Courtenay,
ReplyDeleteGood comments here. I like your wording, it seems alot more straight forward than I am usually capable of. I thought this was an interesting question, and I got rather carried away with my answer and probably wrote too much. It is quite interesting though to imagine what it must have been like to only have stories available to you by being told them. How different was the individual's thought process when it wasn't based on any individual knowledge or the visualing of language? Anyway, goog answer mate, see you in class.