Gripla - 01.01.1975, Page 177

THE RISE OF LITERATURE IN 'TERRA NOVA’ 173
better and very often in a more archaic form than in England itself.
In the New England States dances also are still alive which are nearly
forgotten in the home country.
Preserving old traditions does not mean that tales or songs, which
have been told or sung once, will be handed down and delivered un-
changed and will be told or sung in the same manner for ever. Some-
times a ‘Gattung’, a literary genre, is alive in such a way, that not
only old themes or subjects are retold or resung, but also new tales
or songs are created in a traditional manner. Heroic tales and heroic
poetry in oral tradition are still alive in some Balcanic regions in the
south-east of Europe—we all remember the works of Parry and
Lord. Here not only songs and tales are living, but the way of singing
and telling, and new events may be told or sung just like the old
stories. One of the best examples of such traditional art can be found
in our neighbourhood, on the Faroe Islands. There themes of fornald-
arsogur, riddarasogur and many other tales have been passed on
through oral tradition from the middle ages up to our days as ballads
sung in connection with dance. The Faroese dance ballads are in my
opinion one of the most astonishing examples of oral tradition of any
people speaking a Germanic language. But here again we can see
that tradition does not mean sterile conservation; themes and formes
do not remain unchanged through a long time; on the contrary, as
long as tradition is still alive, themes and forms will be developed and
subjected to alterations. The dance ballads had become the only exis-
ting form of poetry in this society. During the 18th and the beginning
of the 19th century the ballad assumed the functions of other literary
genres: satires on events of the present were sung and danced, and
even a political satire, the Fuglakvæði by Nolsoyar Páll, was perfor-
med in this way and is still living as dance song nowadays.
Some of the societies favourable for preservation of old traditions
are isolated, either by the geographical situation (mountain valleys,
islands) or by language. An isolated situation is often combined with
the lack of influences from outside. But there are exceptions, too: the
New England States have not been isolated in this sense, and neither
has Iceland. Isolation cannot be the sole factor in explaining the pre-
serving of old traditions in a society, but it will favour it. It is diffi-
cult to say what the essential reasons for such a tendency might be—