Friday, June 29, 2012

Rhapsody

Virginia has started making up songs:
Five little creatures swimming under water.
Momma called the doctor and the doctor said,
"No more creatures swimming under water."
My theory is that she drew inspiration from "Five Little Monkeys," and "Five Green and Speckled Frogs," and the "creature" part is her own.

Walter Ong (Orality and Literacy) calls this "rhapsodizing" - stitching together chunks of other stuff to make new stuff. It is a characteristic of composition in the oral tradition. I've been kind of geeking out about Virginia's "oral"mind. Since she can not read or write yet she still has many oral characteristics. I had already noticed how great her memory is for the spoken word and now she has gone a step further - using the things she has memorized in her own creations.

According to Ong, this is how the Iliad and Odyssey were composed. I have to admit to considerable satisfaction in thinking of her as a little Homer.




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