ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the assumption that pre-Islamic poetry was an oral poetry. It examines the formula in pre-Islamic poetry with a view to shedding light on the problem of authenticity. The chapter contrasts the orality of pre-Islamic poetry with the literate nature of later, Islamic, poetry. The stock of formulas in any oral tradition is elaborated during the course of centuries by the slow process of trial and error. The oral poets have no theoretical knowledge of meter. They rely on what observers have described as an instinctive sense of rhythm. All poetry is based on one form of repetition or another, but the distinctive feature of oral-formulaic poetry, and in this pre-Islamic poetry is no exception, is the high frequency with which certain word combinations, the formulas, are repeated. In contrast, pre-Islamic poems are lyrical-descriptive; they tell no story, and are relatively short compositions, ranging from a few to a hundred or more lines.
