UDC 886.l-13:80S.61.655.2Original Scholarly WorkMirjana DETELICInstitute for Balkan StudiesBelgradeTHE FUNCTION ANDSIGNIFICANCEOF FORMULA IN SERBIAN DECASYLLABICEPIC POETRYAbstract: The subject of this paper is application range of Parry-Lord's defi-nition of epic formulawithintheSerbian decasyllabic epic poetrycriticism.Advocatingthe thesis that"Homericquestion"is not themost desirablere-search contextfor epic poetryin shortmeter (decasyllabic) and only byex-ception longer than 1000 verses, the author offers eight elementaryprepositions as astart point for discussion onpossibilities andproblemsconnected withdefinitionof epic formulain general. Keywords: "Homericquestion", epic formula, formulaity, constructivetext borders. cliche. com-munication.. relational and deep information.Serbiandecasyllabic epicpoetryis a complex phenomenonin theoral literarytradition whichopens up not onlyonebut several analyticlevels. Ontheversificatorylevel, it issungin ameterwhichemergesalmost untouched frompraslavonic antiquity (Jakobson; Ivanov &Toporov;Gasparov), so by its merestructure it "memorizes"more thanis usuallyfoundin thewords thatare put into it. On the history of gen-res level, it is classifiedas ahigh medieval epic with national con-science and pathos as its fundamental characteristics (Meletinski),thereforeitsacuteideological attitude(to protectanddefend thestate,church, andnation). Onthe theory of literaturelevel, it belongs tothe"aestheticsof identity" (Lotman), whichmeans that it cannot bewellstudied oradequatelyunderstoodwithout some substantial knowledgeabout thespecific type of culturein whichthisaesthetics is logical as avaluation system. Finally, on the level of poetics nothing can beachievedunless all theabove werekept inmind-infact, nospecificpoetic problemcanbe solved unless that solutionis satisfactoryonallthe other analytic levelsas well.218 Miriana DetelicTheepicformula problemisnot anexception. Though there'snodoubt it should be solved asa questionbelonging to theepicgenre the-ory, thescientificinterest wasfocusedonit not in this, but in thecon-text of "Homericquestion". For Serbiandecasyllabicepic poetrythatwasbothgoodandbad. Thegoodsideof it was that, mainlybecauseof theAmericanwell-knownsense forpraxis, fromtheverybeginningthe explorationof formulacoveredthe widest spaceof oral literatureprofusion, both ingeographic (Europe, both Americas, Africa, Asia,Australia) and historical sense (fromarchaic epics to contemporaryepictraditionwhereverit couldbefound, andeventothepatternsofspeechineverydayverbal communication}.' Thegainwasnot only IIInewand interestingdata, but alsoinahugecomparativebodytobeused forchecking oldand testing new theories. However, the bad thingwas itsstarting point -twoHomericepicswithversesbothlong(hex-ameter) andplenty(27000verses). Asthe shortnessandlengthinthedomainofpoetics donot merely result fromthe quantitativediffer-ences inthe phenomenawith similaror exactlythe sameproperties,but implysubstantiallydifferent treatment inall relevant points con-cerning meter and text composition, the results of Homeric studiesonlypartiallyand withgreat reservationscanbeextended totheepicsonginshort meter(decasyllabic) andonly byexceptionlongerthan1000verses. Unfortunatelytoo, the maineventconcerning formulas-Parry'sand Lord'swork onthe spot- was motivatedbythe needtoshow in practice whether theoral versemaking of a longepicwas pos-sible ornot, which isunderstandable - thecrucial questionof Homericstudiesbeing the authorship of Iliad andOdyssey. Soithappened thatthe greatest scientificevent inthetwentiethcenturyhomerologywasfoundedon a, by that time, decadent epic poetryofafewBosnianMoslemsingerswho-withnopersonal blameand, though, probablygifted -were bynowaytrueepicbardsanylonger.? Having their finalgoal inmind, bothParryandLord, aswell astheir followers, circum-ventedthe high decasyllabicoral poetry, not evenusingit tocorrectOng, 1982. for example.2 Ljubinkovic, 1991. In the oral literature studies they are usually spokenofasepigons,withthe exception of AvdoMededovicwhois valuated as anexceptionalpoet and not a singer only(Kravar, 1979). Even if thisopinion (highly far fetched,asfarasweareconcerned) onMededovic ' s gift isaccepted. thereshould yetbereservations considering the anachronismof both the phenomenon and thecircumstances ofhis singing, which certainly has some significance from thepoint of view of genre criticism (see Meletinski, 1963, 1964).111e Function and Sisnificance ofFormula111Epic Poem' 219someof their general conclusions, the effect of whichwasoftenfar-reaching.3Anyway,this great American enterprise - though forHomeric andfolklore studies its value cannot be overestimated- didn't provethesameintheSerbiandecasyllabicoral epicstudies." Even fromthebe-ginning, withthefirst appearance of Parry'sdefimtion of formulaandLord'sthreeprinciples.' it was obviousthat followingthat coursecanend onlyin theconclusion: "There's nothing in thesong that is not for-mulaic"." If that is understood literally, almost immediately thereemerges the need for massiveredefining of terminologyalreadyinuseinoral literature studies. Besides beingsenseless, it was also by nomeans either Parry's or Lord's intention. Beingclassical philologistsbyprofessionandkeepingalwaysinmind thefinal goal of their work(provingthepossibilityof oral originof Homericepics), at acertainmomenttheylost track of twotinythingswhichlinguistsandfolklor-ists (having, by definition, to cope withlivingstructures) spottedatsight:7a) formulaity isnot characteristicof epiclanguageonly, but-moreor less - of verbal communication"inconcretoasthe practice oflanguage in abstracto";8 b)thereforeitis necessary todiscernbetweenformulascoming from everyday speech (and necessarily going throughchangeswhileadjustingtometric-syntacticpattern of asymmetricde-casyllabicverse)"fromthe formulas asanimportant element of tech-nique, style,and composition in traditionalepic versemaking.3 Theepic repetitions in one of Salih Ugljaniri's long poems, if notcompared to thesamekindofrepetitions-for example-in"TheMother of Jugovichi" or "TheDeathof Iva of Senj", andiftheyfigure astheonlyreferenceinvalidatingtheaesthetic and stylistiequalitiesof thisepic technique in Serbiandecasy llabicversepoetry, willalways lead to conclusions such as thoseby G. S. Kirkin Homer andtheEpic: that South Slavic epic poetry is unsuccessful ineffect and "naive intechnique"compared to Horner(p. 20) and thatthe antique aoidoi "were primarilycreative poets while the latter Iguslaril are primarily if not exclusivelynon-creative and reproductive."(p. 24)4 See about it Maticki, 9 8 ~ Kravar, 1979; Ljubinkovic, 1991.5 "Byformula Imean'a group of words which isregularly employedunder thesame metrical conditions toexpress a given essential idea'. This definitionisParrys. ByformulaicexpressionIdenote alineorhalf lineconstructedonthepattern of theformulas. BythemeI refer to the repeated incidents anddescriptivepassages in the songs."Lord, 1964, p. 4.6 Ibid, p. 47.7 Criticismof this kind was given, for example, byHoekstra(1964), Hainsworth(1969), Kravar (1978), Ong (1982), Mansuea (1989).8 Kravar, 1978, p. 95.9 On this,see Petkovic, 1990, pp. 201, 203.220 Miriana DetelicAccordingtothis, anydefinitionpretending tosolvetheproblemof relationbetweenformulaandformulaityand tooffer anacceptablemeasure for it, should above all payattention to the following: theepicformulaisa tool resulting from the "working"of fonnulaitywithintheframeworkof the secondarylinguisticsystem of epicpoetry; the rela-tionbetweenthemisa generic one, formulaitybeing onlyone of con-ditions necessary for creatingformulas andnot identical withthem.Naturally, suchadefinitioncouldnot helpbeingsystemic.!"andforthatreasonit would not bewelcomein Homencstudies. Nevertheless,starting fromthe fact that formulaity is a paradigmatic element ofevery primary linguistic systemand promotingthat position as theonly valid onefordefining it as the"essential property of oral literaturetomake formulasin order touse them asa basic tool of expression andartisticmodeling" 1] - thereforeproperty, andnotthe tool which ISyettoresult fromthat property, it is valid for us fromtheveryPOint whereit becomesuseless forhomerology, because it turnsus back tothe epicitself andthe regulationsof its modelinginthe languagewhich IS anartificial,secondary,and from thenaturallanguage denved system.The samequalities of derivativenessand artificialityarenaturallycharacteristic for all other elements of epicpoetics.From the beginningtothe end, anepicsongisaconstructionbuilt accordingtothe givenrules and onthe structural basis whichisknowninadvance. Besidesall this, it is also anact of oralitywhichcomes intobeingduringthecommunicationprocessthat largelyexceedsthe borders of text itself,regardlessof themeansof its performance(smging, reciting, with orwithout aninstrument etc.). It isusuallyforgottenthat withinthecul-tures of literacytheperson whoreadsisused torecogruze text bordersat manydifferent levels: starting from the materialbody of the book asanobject, viaouter limitsof its text (titleand"theend" on thelastpage), toits diverselynuancedinnerborders, i.e. chapter, graphicde-sign of stanzaandverse, andsoon. Fromthe reader'spoint of view,thoseareall conventionsunderstoodper seand thereforenotexpectedtobe carriersof any relevant literaryinformation. Nevertheless, it ISpreciselyowing tothem thatliteraryuniverse isefficientlyand clearly10 Whichmeans itneedsadditional defining(of formulaity, primaryandsecondarylinguistic systems and so on) and usually cannot be used without them.Nevertheless, asarelational assertion, it isgood becauseit istrue-untilabetteroneisfound. Lord himself -inThe SingerJjTales- probablyfelt this same needfor system as he put histhree main definitions together.11 Pesic &Milosevic Dordevic, 1984, s.v. Fonnulativnost.The Function and Significance or Formula III Epic Poetry 221separated fromtheworld of reality, forthereader in everysmgle instantisgivenanunequivocal signthat -fromthevel)' moment heenters thatuniverse - hedwellsin a different chronotoposdominated by thetime ofreading. 12 Inthe caseof oral literal)' communication, wherethereisnodominant but bothtimeandplace of listeningareactualized tothesamedegree, neithersingernor his audiencecancountonconventional shortcuts of thekind. Anobvious need forthem is, therefore, to besatisfied insome other way. Besides, in an oral performance context, which Itself isnot convenient fordistinguishing a colloquialfroma poeticidiom, sig-nalingthat one stops andthe other starts must by all means engagemorethenoneinstrument of sendinginformationof suchimportance,and morethenone communication level for Itstransfer. Ontheper-formancelevel it doesn't have to(althoughit might)exceed thetestingof the"channel"clearance(gestures. silencing the audience, coughing,adjusting themstrument if it is going tobeused, etc.). but onthemes-sageformalizationlevel the choice of toolsisreducedtopotentials oflanguageItself. Thoughthesepotentialsareby nomeanssmall. at thisstage theflexibilityand power of formulas as earners of specific codein-formationarefullystressed. Theyareactinglike"shifters't.l ' signalizingnot onlythat a poetic Idiom is going in and out of the spoken chain (initialand final formulas), butalso that onestructural segment is ending andtheother onebeginning in the process of composition of poem (inner formu-las). Although thismeans thatformulas foranaudience that listens fulfillthesame purpose which in thecase of a book-as-an-object ISdonebyitsgraphicdesign, their part inthevel)' making, relating, andtransferringof anoral textIS farmore significant and profound.Toward the rehabilitation ofthe term"cliche"Proceeding fromthefact thatsegmentation theconstructionprin-ciple allacts of speech arebuilt upon, the aspect of principalcategoriesis thevel)' context in which a literal)'text will have todistinguish itselffromthe natural language as a secondary, artificial, derivedsystem.12Of course. it doesn't mean that literarytextborders don't carryother anddifferentinformations They certainly do, btit only if they were brought out of theircoventional framework, and if observedincontext of literary work of art as aconceptual - not material - entity. Ifthis were thecase, the very principlebywhichalinguisticmaterial isorganizedintoliterary text, i.e. itsverystructure-comes in theforefront.13WithinSerbianliterarycriticism, thistermwaspromoted byN. PetkovictOglediizsrpskepoetike, Beograd, 1990, especiallythechapter0 klasifikaciji i prirodiknjizevnih tekstova, p. 21 andon).222 Miriana DetelicFirst of all, its borders are absolute (its beginning andending cannot bechanged unl ess a new text is formed), compared to fl uctual and sponta-neous borderlines of natural speech. Further on, inthe case of epicsongit isalsoa speechin verse, versebeing a subject torulesof seg-mentationaccordingtometric principlesthat imply anadditional ar-rangement of thespokenchain, thus automaticallybecoming far morestrict then anythingthat isvalidfor natural languagesystem. Withinthegivenlimits, submitting tometric-syntacticpatternof asymmetricdecasyllabicverse, anepicsongisgetting organizedasaliterarytextbymodelingits linguisticmaterial intosmaller entities, i.e. intoseg-mentsarranged in chains, thesamewayas - generally - half-verses areboundintoverses, versesintostanzas, stanzasintopoemasawhole.Therefore, an epic song has, beside the outer, many inner bordersformedin-betweenthesuccessive segments on thepoints of their con-tact. Theseare thepointsof constructive significancein themaking ofthesong. Because theyaresignificant andstressed, thoseborders-aswell as theouter ones-canalsobedefinedasconstructive. 14 All con-structivebordersinanepicsongaremarked (stressed assignificant)by epic formulas. Why?From thepoint of view of text, thebeginning and theendare sub-ject to thegreatest semantic tension because theyare absolute and theymark the bordersofaunique universe which has sense only withinthose borders andthusexistsonlywithin them. Inoral communicationthese twopoints carryan extra burden since - as we havealreadysaid -theyhave to be distinguished fromthenoise in thesituation of speech.Because of this, even if the poet would like it otherwise, the poem can-not beginits narrationinmedias res: itneeds shiftersnot tomakethecommunicationmore efficient(asisusually supposed), but merelytomakeit work. From that pointof view, theepic shares thefate of other,moreorlesssimilar narrativegenres of oral literature.P There too, es-peciallyinthe caseof fairy-tale, thebeginningandtheendhavethefunctionof beingdistinguished fromnoise, of leading inandout fromthereal world toa fictitiousoneandviceversa. Therefore, theysufferpressure greater thanusual,theyhave tendency to become petrified, togaina fixedandeasilyrecognizable, highlycommunicative form. 16 Inother words, theyare becoming cliches.14 On thisterm (constructive borders andtheir function)see N. Petkovic, Ibid.15 See, for example,Samardzija, 1988.16 Such a form, as a form of cliche, is also namedsense-creating form (see Petkovic, 1990,20).I11eFunctionand Significance ofFormula in Epic Poetry 223Thesame tendencycan be observed in case of smaller entities andtheir borders, what wehavealreadynamedas epicpoem'ssegments,andwhat in fact is nothing elsebut Lord's "theme". Anepicpoem,be-inganoral interpretation, every time createdanewandonly for thepresent and unique purpose, naturally becomes irreversible. Thismeansthat - differentlyfromwrittentext-onecannot examineit upanddownandright andleft, so thesignificance of a cliche in theproc-ess of itsmakingandrelatingoverrunsbyfarthelimitationsrenderedtoitbydefinition. Emerging onthepoints of contact between poem'sconstructive segments, cliche - inter alia - marks therhythm of its nar-ration; noother poeticdevicecoulddoit better fortheepics whichisdeprived bothof rhymeandstanzas. Besides, including bylargescopethe"themes" themselves and notonlythe points of their contact, cliche- byitsrigid form- enables thetransversability of "themes"todiffer-enttextsanddifferent genres. Thus, narrationbecomeslighter andtheattentionisturnedfromunimportant andless important toits centralelements. Finally, insome special cases (whichare not rare at all),clicheofaninitial formulacan patternthe structureof apoemas awhole,as wasargued by Schmauss on the example of "raven thenews-bearer'! .17 Thisis exactly thepoint where onecaneasily see that clichewithits petrified form- which outside of Lotmans"aesthetics of iden-tity" gets only negativeconnotations- infact conservesthe most an-cient semantic text layers, that "something" which could easily becalled a prae-text andwhichwould, without that petrified form, belosttousforever by along-lastingprocessof degradationandtrivializa-tion.Advocating, therefore, therehabilitation of thetermcliche inoralliteraturecriticism, wecannow gobacktotheepicformula, keepingalways in mindthat inthis paper it is definedas a special type ofcliche.The "essential idea"Organizingrhythmof narrationbypointingout the constructivetext bordersiseasytoproveempirically. For thatreason, it mightbeusedas a check-point of applicability of Parry-Lord' s definition of for-mula as a "group of wordswhich is regularly employed under thesamemetricalconditions to express a given essential idea". Keeping in mindthat noother definitionof formula isnowadays seriouslyincircula-17Schmaus, 1971, III, pp. 334-355.224 Mirjana Deteliction,I8it is important to examine its compatibility withgoals ofre-search significant this time not for homerology but for Serbian de-casyllabic epics,and to solve it as a kind of "preliminary question".From that point of view, our attentionIS at the first place drawn tothe lackof precisioninthe formulation "givenessential idea", espe-ciallywhenit comes tosocalled inner formulas. Bythis term -"inner"- theyarenamed after their medialfunction, which means that theycannever and under anyconditions besituated either at thebeginning oratthe endingofapoem: infact they are devisedonly as a means ofsmooth connection between the successive segments ofa poem, sotheir dependence on thedirect semantic environment is twofold. Itmayalso be statedthat theyhavetwoopenjoints: first or upperone(byanalogywith written text wecould imagine thetext flow of epicpoemasa vertical line), connected withtheaspect of past (what endedin theprevioussegment), andthe second, or lowerone, connectedwiththeaspect of future(what isyettocomeinthe nextsegment). At thebe-ginning of apoem, this upper joint wouldremamunconnected (beforethe poemstartednothingelseexisted), andat its end the samewouldhappentothelowerone(after the poemisfinished, nothingelsewillexist). Besides, being openonbothsides, inner formulainevitablybe-comeslexicallyandsyntacticallyflexible. Thus, under direct infl uenceof itscontext, oneandthesameinner formulaappearsinmanyvariedforms, for example: "Kadu jutru jutro osvanulo", "Kad imsjutra jutroosvanulo", "Kadujutrubeodanosvanu", "Kad je jutru0 zorici bilo","Akad sjutradan i zoradode". "Kadcetvrto/desetojutroosvanulo","No kadjutromsunceogranulo"!"andsoon. Outerformulas (initialand final), being open at oneend only, arelesssubmissive to variationsof the kind, but they exhibit the tendencyof multiplying(or systemconstructing) which cannot be observedwith inner formulas. Poemsveryoftenbothbeginandendbyachain of two, threeor morecorre-sponding formulas, forexample: "loszorica nije zab'jelila, / Ni danicalicapomolila,/ Bijela j e vilapokliknuia/ SaAvale zeleneplanine";"Zdravo Scepan u Bijograd dode / I dovede Tursku bulu mladu, /18 Homerologyoffered(and st111 offers) many different definitions of epiC formula(sec Vant.icnnep, Bowra. ISJ5LNagler. 1969). but Parry's definition ismost inuse. Innodefinition is zcnerallv consideredeither better or moreconvenient thenthisone. 19 "When atthedawnthemorning dawned", "When tomorrow the mornmg dawnedtothem", "When inthemorningthewhitedaydawned", "Wheninthe morningitwas about dawn". "Andwhentomorrowthe dayandthe dawncame", "Thenatthedawn of thefourth/tenth day's morning", "Hlir when atthedawn thesun rose"The Functionanti Signiticance ofFormula in Epic Poetry 225Nabaviodvanest kaludera, / Krstise jei zlamenovase, / I uze jezavjemuljubovcu. /To jebilokadsei cinilo, / VeezaslavuBogadamolimo / I za zdravlje vladike svetoga, / Amin, Boze, vazda temolimo! "20 (Vuk II,95). This strategy is motivatedby the needtostress the beginningandthe endasconstructivelystrongpoints of apoemandtounderlinethemastheearnersof aspecial kindof codesignal (as we already mentioned before). On the contrary, if se-quenced, theinnerformulasshould drawmassive attentionupon them-selves (which, in fact, is thepoint in sequencing andmultiplying), andconsequentlydisorganizethe flowof narration. Inboth cases, there-fore, theposition of formulas definestheirfunction, andthisfunction,then, definestheirvanabiliry:"The essential idea, whateverit mightbe, if thiswerenot built intoit, losesitsadjectiveandremainsmerelyan idea.In accordance withdiversityof situations and great number of ac-tionsthat takepart in theplot of epicpoem, therearemanydifferenttypesof innerformulas. At this point weshall besatisfiedwithonlytwoextreme cases.Themost numerous aretheinner formulasof thefollowingtype:"Alabanda, zametnusekavga", 11Kad ujutru jutroosvanulo", "Pramense je maglezadenuo", "Malobilo, nistanestanulo", "Daje komestatipa gledati"22and so on. Information theycarryis always identical to it-self, which makes their constructive-rhythmical function only moreobvious. Infact, thereisnoreasontoburdenthisfunctionbyanyad-dtitional service, and the essential ideasdistributed this way("a quarrelburst out", "the dawn broke", "fog came down after gun shooting","soonafter", "it wasworthseeing")arenot significant bythemselves.Formulas of this type acquire sense only ifthey act as shifters, ashighlyeconomicandfunctional toolswhichmarkthetypeof changesbrought byanewsegment intoanalready fulfillednarration. Thosemarkers, asevensucha poornumber of examplescanshow, areusu-ally temporal and situational, but they can also be local ("Dok se20 "No whitedawnhas broken yet/ Northe North star shown her face, / Thewhitefairvcries, / She cries from Avala the mountain" "Stephen came to Belgrade in good health,/Andhe brought afair Turkishgirl withhim, / He fetchedtwelvemonks, / Tochristenand tobaptizeher, /Andhe marriedherhis fateful wife. / It occurredwhen it happened, / But to praise God and to prayfor glory/ And forthehealth ofhisholyeminence, / Amen, God, weever prayto you!". (Translation is literal.)21 There is, in Ma.'1bQeB (1989, p. 53), theterm "variation field of formula".22 "Alabanda, the quarrel burst out"; "Whenat the dawnthe morningcame'': "Atraceof fogcame by": "Short timepassed, no timeat all".226 MirianaDetelicprasak magle zamaglio, / Aiz magle dobar junak skace", "Pramenmagle poljepritiskao'Y:', andoften evenextratextual ("Da jekomestati pa gledati", "Dada ti je bilo poslusati"),24 whenever thereis needforasinger tointervene not asa storyteller ora participant of narra-tiveaction, but asaparticipant in theveryact of communicatingthepoerri"This special caseof direct communicationwiththeaudienceconfirmsboththesignificanceandtheroleof shifters in epictext. Al-though itsactionisinconspicuous, it neverthelessimpliesafewveryimportant things, i.e.: stepping out of the narrative context andcomingback into it, a sudden andshort lastingshift ofnarrator's optics, abreachin theprocess of sending themessage, a change in thewayofitsreception. Theonlypurposeof doingsoIStodraw theattentiontowhat isabout tocome, bywhichtheborderlinebetweenwhat has al-readybeenandwhat is yet to beis automaticallystressed. Thisshowsagainthatthe"essential idea"cannot be separated formtheposition offormula and its function. In thisparticular case,for everysingle exam-pleandforallof themasawhole, theessential idea goes as follows:"this is over, now something new starts".Another type of innerformulasis muchmorerare andverymuchdifferent. Itsunusual andexceedinglysignificantcharacteristicsmightverywell beasubject toquitea largestudy, but onthisoccasionweshall focuson one of themonly, on theformula "Kad su bili gorom pu-tujuCi".26 Onthisexample we shalltryroughlyto show its importancefor epic poetryin general.While in thecase of the first cited type of inner formulas some es-sential idea could bederivedfromtheformulaitself withoutknowingitscontext, inthecaseof "Kadsubili goromputujuci" itwill not bepossible- unlesstheessential idea isdefinedasamereassertionthatsome people weretravelingthroughaforest. But, knowingthat after23 "Atraceoffog cameby, ! Andfromthisfog a bravehero jumped out", "A traceof fog lay on the fild".24 "If anyone werethere to see this": "If onlyyouwere thereto listento it"25 Formulas ofdirect speechcanalsobe variable. For example, "watching"formulasthus usedexhibitbothtypes: "When hesaw sees it andsomebodydoesn't"; "If youonlysaw..."; "Stop and watchit .. ": "Ifyou couldonlysee it withyour owneyes"; "Ifyouwereonlytosee..."; "If you wereonlytostopandtowatch..." and so on.26 "Andastheytraveled throughtheforest trees". Allcitationstram thepoem"TheWedding of Milich the Ensign" come tram the book Marko the Prince.Serbo-Croat Heroic Songs, translated by Anne Pennington & Peter Levi,Duckworth, London, 1984.Tile Functionand Significance ofFonnula in Epic Poetrv 227thistheoncommgversesays: "Stize uroknakonju devojku",27 evenifthetitleof thepoem is hidden tous(":leniJba Milica barjaktara"/TheWedding of Milich theEnsign/) and itsplotunknown, theinformationwereceiveisneverthelesscomplete because thereis nodoubt that theintroductionof "urok" (evil/charm) will bring a crucial change intonarration(whateverIt might havebeenso far).28 Thus, thefunctionofpunctuating the borderlines between the narrative segments of thepoemISalsoperformed. However, if theessential idea fromtheabovedefinitionis understoodas aleading(i.e. semantically loadedtothemaximum) andnot as arudimentaryone (semanticallyloadedtotheminimum)-for botharelogicallypossible, weshall seethat such anideainthe caseof the"forest" andthe "charm/evil" isvery difficulteventodescribe, let alonetodefine in oneor twosentences of generaltype.-" Besides, thecomplexmeaning of thisdistichis equallydistrib-utedbetweenboth its components, but only one ISapart of formula(forest) and the other (charm/evil) is free. The truth is that any an-nouncement of goingm orthroughan epicforestby themeans of for-mula, will activatethe connotationsof forest asachthonicplaceandprepare audience for a suitable eventl?Althoughthe sourceof this informationisalways knowninad-vance, although the conditions ofits reception are equal for everymember of audience, theinflux of meaning thisinformation carries onwill not bethesamefor everyone. The most of it will bemadeby a27 "Theevil came toher onher ownhorse". For theword "urok", charm(meaningmagical charm) isbettertranslation. Boundbyexistingbookof translations, weshalluse bothof themin theform"evil/charm"28 Like all inner formulas. this onetoo have lose joints. Depending on context, it canbe observedinmany different forms, for example: Akadhili usrid gore erne(after this betrayal and punishment of infidel wife follow); Akad hili ugorizelenoj (afterthis "hajduks"attack wedding partyandassassin thegroom); Akadhili nasred erne gore(introducing theexhibition of miracle) andso on.29 In "The Wedding of Milich the Ensign" this evil/charmis an lillpure andsupernatural force actingas magic of words. Expressinghis adoration, Milichunknowinglyutters deathpenaltyfor hisbride-to-be. Neither timenor placethisforcewill beactivated inischosen bychance: epIC forest isa chthonicspacebyeminenceandthus thenatural resort ofimpurepowers. It isalsotheplacethesepowers arebannedtobymagic charms. Indications like "theevil came toher"advocate this. Moreabout it Detelic, 1992, s.v. Gora.30 In thissensetheessential ideareallyis inseparable andimportant element of epicformulaand its functions. Yet, poetictools of suchaforce are very scarce notonlyin Serbian butin oral epicpoetryin general. If sucha highcriteriashould beappliedconsequently, onlyafewformulaswouldsurvive(not morethantwentyin caseof Serbian epics). It is hardtobelievethat Lord andParrydidhavethisonmind.228 Miriana Detelicpersonwhoknowstheproper wayof decodingcategories"forest"and"charm/evil", that means for the person accustomed to theconnotationsforest and charm/evil inevitablyacquirethroughcorrelative relation-shipof epics andSerbiantraditional culture.t! Sucha persondoesnotreceivemessageonlyonone, nominallevel (aswasthecasewith for-mulas ofthe first mentionedtype - the relational information aboutstructural functionof formula setaside), but onasmanysemanticlev-els as his knowledge allows. Ifall participants incommunicationofepicpoembelong to the oneandsame typeof culture, theexchange ofInformation(incodinganddecodingof message) isproceedingonthesamelevel, the equal measureof knowledge beingsharedbywholecommunity. Onthecontrary, thesameinstantthis optimal balance ISdisturbed nomatter how, thedanger of superficial or incorrect interpre-tation and misunderstandinggrows unpredictably. Aspecial case ofthis istotal alienationof one who reads transcriptionof anoral epicpoem.Asit is, thegreatest damage wasdone to oral epicpoetrywhenitwas consideredacomplexof"naive" texts, whenit seemedthat themost Importantthingwas todecidewhat isfalseandwhat true fromthe historical point ofview3 2On the other hand, even the greatestachievement of Parry-Lordi anmethod - The Singer of Tales- isa kindofdead end because what it's really doing is infact describingthemere techniqueof versemakingandsingingaccompaniedby"gusle",while to thequestions of genreaesthetics andpoetics it offersnosatis-factoryanswers.P So,althoughits argument might seemdifferent, TheSinger of Tales sharesthe sameattitudewiththosewhoclassifyepictextsasnaive, amereactof interpretationwhichtranspireswithin thenarrow passage froma generic poem toits actualvariation. But when-ever it wasanalyzed withprofound andserious knowledge of tradition31 Any oral literatureiscorrelativewiththe cultureitbelongstoandall traditionalculturesshare thesamebasiccharacteristics. Seeing that thisrelation is universal.fora relativelyexact decoding of thisinformation a simple conclusion byanalogyis good enough.32 Like all works of art, oral epic poetryknowsfor onetruthonly -its own. Thattruth is neverjeopardizedby any participant inan epic poemcommurucation.What is more important still. sucha truthcannotbeseparated fromepictraditioningeneral, andgoodepic singersalwaysknewthat. Eventhelatestamongthem(songs about rebellion and Montenegrin historical poems) had to adopt thistraditional attitudeinorder tobesungat all. This omitted, their subjectwasnotconsidered an epicevent.33 See Mam.nen, 1989.111e Function and Significance ofFonnu1a in Epic Poetry 229it belongs to, oral epicpoetryexhibited all its potentials, offering a pic-ture of complex andmultilevelphenomenon themeaning of whichex-ceeds byfar the borderlinesof text itself - nomatterhowwidetheymight be. From thepoint of view of formula, thisdiscrepancybetweenthemeaning of thewhole and thesumof themeanings of itselementscannot beeitherperceived or understoodproperlywithout elementaryknowledge of cliche - how it's made and how it works.Ofall genres of oral literature, proverbis characterizedby thesimplest formof spokencliche. Aproverbisalsoa trope(acomplex,secondarysign), becausedescription of some initial situation, event orimagethat performs its subject material, isnot agoal byitself (as itshould beina natural language), but isusedtodescribeother anddif-ferent but compatiblesituations, events, andimages.I"Thereforeit isobvious"that clicheisacreationmore complexthan anordinarylin-guistictext, becauseit isdoubled: first, text is formedfromlinguisticunits, andthen thistext as awholeserves as anewunit ofdescrip-tion. "35So, proverb hasa structure of trope, theelements of whichcanalsobedifferent tropes(simile, metaphor, etc.). Out of this closemu-tual relation (trope within atrope), a potential sourceofadditionalmeanings is formedand activatedwith everynewapplicationof theproverb, so its semantic fieldremains always open. Because of all this,successful proverbgainsthe influxof meaningandthus widens andenriches itsinitialmatenal without limitations, even though itsstartingpoint might be forgotten oruntraceable." Toanswer toall these needs,a proverb hasto"act" in awaymost properlydescribed as"linear dis-sipation". Anetworkof itsspreadingor developingismadebyinter-sections of themeaningtakenandthemeaningbrought, that is of theold andthenew application in every single case. Bythat, very richme-anders are made and the meaningis widenedbut not deepened. Tomakeit workindeep, thisprocessmust beadverselyoriented. Inthatcase, theactivation of new meaningsisnolonger triggeredbytheap-plication of cliche, but bytheinitial situation generating thecliche. Inproverbs, this initial situation is drawn to the very surface and ex-hausted, soit cannolonger beconsidered a source of new relevant in-formation. Inepics, it's theopposite case.34 See Petkovic, 1990, pp. 21,22.35 Ibid. p.22.36 On this.see Detelic, 1985, pp. 349-375.no Mirjana DetelicAnepicformula"works"indeep. Itslinguistic formis, accordingto Mal' cev, "apoint of theiceberg", 37 message thecodes of whichcanbechangedwithnoinfluenceonthemeaningbuiltintoit. Withinthegeneral theoryof informationsuch acase isimpossible, andeventhesentencebywhichit isdescribedwouldbe consideredinvalidandil-logical. Nevertheless, it is true in this specific context, because thesource of meaningsfor epicformulasisnot epicsbut tradition, whichmeansthat -asfar astheepic poetryisconcerned-whatwehavetocope within fact is thequestion of acceptable decoding. Toabridge thehierarchical level chasm between epics and tradition, formula ISneeded asa form that generates meaning despitethecodechanges. Bythis quality, it can be described as a sense-creatingform. In otherwords, the influx of meanmg inthe wayanepicformulaworksisori-entedfromthe bottomtothe point of "aniceberg", i.e. fromatradi-tional culture asa mutual source of meanings fortheoral literature asawhole, toagenreand ItSactualization(epicpoem). If this IStrue, theconfirmation should be found in "close reading" of text.Formula"remembers"Asanexample, wecould taketheafore mentioned "The Weddingof Milich theEnsign"(Vuk IIL78). Bymanycharacteristics, thispoemisrightlyconsidered oneof thehighestpomts of Serbiandecasyllabicepicpoetry, andfor that reason it isusuallyunavoidable in thestudy ofthis genrepoetics. Inthe monographThe Mythical Spaceand the Ep-ics38we have already dealt with it - fromthe point of view of my-thopoetics ofepic topos, concentrating especially on the motive ofdeathduringthe weddingasavariationof general motiveof deathintheforest. This tuneweshall approachtheanalysisfromtheaspect offormulas, which wasnot within our previous consideration.Whatis first tobeobserved hereis thegreat number(I-X) of du-plications'?(verses: I3-5/17-19; II 73-76/77-81: III 94-98/102-106; IV154-163/165-175; V 178-180/243-245; VI 186-188/231-233; VII 190-193/252-255; VIII 212-213/216-217; IX 257-258/282-283; X 266-268/274-276). Adding therepetitionswhicharenotliteral (verses: 1/8;20/24; 43-45/67-70; 194-201/248-251;269-273/277-280), weshallsee37 ~ a n b Q e 1989,p.6838 Beograd, 1992: also Detelic, 1989.39Not repetitions butduplications (whentheattention is paid thatrepetitionsshouldnever be morethan two).'TIleFunction andSignificance of Formula in EpicPoetrv 231that of 284verses (total number of verses in thispoem) even 112 areinflicted bythistechnique. Of therest, a major part IS dealing withthedescription of thewedding partygoing forthebride(48-55)andcom-ingbackwithher (140-146), orindescribingthebride'sbeauty(25-40) andthebeautyof her dowry(114-139), whichispertinent tothesameschemebut inamorecasual way. This means that a littleoverone half of the totallinguistic material of this poem(156 of 284 verses)is usedtofulfill a givenstructuralpatternwhichnowcan be named asparallelism.Independent fromtheirnumber, theseduplications are themselvessplit in twounequal groups, thefirst andmorenumerousoneconsist-ing of stylistic tautologies (structurallyunrestricted duplications as: di-rect and indirect speech- duplications 1, II and VIII, direct speech withthe changeofspeakingvoice - duplicationsIII andIV, duplicationsfunctioningasreports - VI, andduplicationsof final formulas -IX).Being tautological, doesn't meantheseduplications are of no use or oflesser significance. On thecontrary, they generally carryan exquisitelycomplex meaning (especially duplications III, IV and VI), but fromtheaspect of text composition thereisnoneedforduplicating. Asoneofthemost ostentatiouselements of epicstyle, theyare fully justified ascarriersof specific, relational informationwhichbecomessignificantonly in thecontext of the poemas a whole.Asmaller number of duplications(V, VIIandX)is not based ontautologybut onparallel flowof events andactions, sothey canbenamed trueparallelisms. Whilein theformercasethemostimportantissuewaswhat isduplicated(sotheduplicationfornarration, strictlyspeaking, is useless becauseit becomes mere retelling), inthe lattergroup whatand how and whereand whenIS duplicated are of same im-portance. It is best shown in the verses themselves:Duplications VThebride'smantakesher fromherhorse's backAnd lays her down to lie in the greengrassHelaysherdown. shebreathes hersoul away.WhenMilich the Ensigncame in to itHe lay down onthat bedsosoftlyspreadHe lay down and he breathedhissoul away.(Dever skide sa konjadevojku,. Pa jespusti na zelenu travu.r On je spusti, ona dusu pusti.KakodadeMilicbarjaktare, Onsespusti nameku postelju, / Dok sespusti, 011 dusuispusti.)232 Mirjana DetelicDuplications VIIAnd they cut out her coffin withsword-bladesAnddug her grave out with theirpick-axes.Andso thev burriedthat beautifulgirl .Towards the rising of the splendidsun.And they cut out his cofjin withsword-bladesAnd dug his grave out with theirpick-axes.Sothere they burried MilichtheEn-signTowards the setting of the splendidsun(Sabljama jaj sanduk satesase, /Nadzacimarakuiskopase, Saraniselijepudevojku Ot-kudase jasno sunce rada..'"Sabljama mu sanduk satesase.r Nadzacima raku iskopase.Saranise Milic barjaktaraKuda jarko smiruje se sunce.iDuplications X.And when the sun sinks into hiswestThe mother ofMilichcomes outto it,She speaks andher eyefollows thesundown:'Now it is S11Jeet to me, 0my God.There is myson. nowit is sweet tome.'Now he is coming home from hishuntingBringing his mother game of eve,)'kind!'Neither her son110r any news ofhim.But whenthe sunrisesintohiseastThe mother ofMilich comes out to it.And she speaks andher eyefollowsthe sun'Here is my daughter. it is sweet tomeShe brings water, she carries coldwater,She wantstotake myplace, old asJam. 'Nodaughter and nonews ofa daugh-ter.(Kada bude na zahodu sunce, Tad' izlazi Miliceva majka.i Pa govori, a za suncemgleda:/ "Blagomene1 doBogamogal/ Blagomene, etasinaniogal/ Eno x' majci, deizlava ide" Nasi majci lovasvakojaka!". Ni bi sina, ni od sina glasa/rKada bude na istoku sunce.. Izilazi Miliceva majka, Sunce gleda pake progovara:"Blagomene, eto misnasicel/ Ides vade. nasi vodeladne Hocemene staruzam 'jeniti!"Ni bi snahe, ni ad snahe glasa.)Parallelismisinpracticeadeceivmgfigureof style soit shouldbe always approached with reservations. In this particular case, toknowwhat isparallel towhat andunder what conditions, weshouldreviewsomeimportant details the cited verses cannot be understoodwithout. First of all, thisis a poemabout a wedding (whichis obviousevenfromthetittle), or - at least- about an intentional wedding whichis not in thetittlebut canbe foundin thetext asa formula of miracle(7 times: "Mili Boze, cuda velikoga!" verse 1; "No da vidis cudaThe Function and Significance of Formula in Epic Poetry233iznenada!" verse 8; "Noti hocujednocudokazat" verse 20; "Cudoljudi zadevojkukazu"verse24; "SVl svatovi nikomponikose, / I uemuzemlju pogledase, / Ja od cudalijepedevojke"verses91-93; "AI'da vidis i cuda i fale!" verse114),40 and once even as an announcement("Najbolji musure peskesdaju,/ Najbolji je, najzescijeh jada' / Svojuseku sure zetu daju" verses129-131).41With the same purpose anotherform of insinuationcan be found in this poem- the initial formula gen-erallyused at the beginning of the poemsabout epic weddings, but thistime with an alternatemeaning:Kad se zeni Milic barjaktare,On obide zemlju i gradoveOd istokapakedo zapada,Prema sebe ne node devojke:Glavit junak svakoj manu node;Zenidbe se proci hotijase;No da vidis cudaiznenada!(2_8)4i.Comparingthisbeginningtotheclassical initial formulaof epicwedding,the difference is automatically observed:Kad se zeni Srpski car Stjepane,Na daleko zaprosi devojku,U Ledanu graduLatinskome,U Latinskog kralja Mijaila,PoimenuRoksandu devojku;Car je prosi, i kraljmu je daje(Vuk 11,29: /_6).43Poems about epicweddings withobstacles, the most numerousweddingpoems of this genre whichalters the topic by keeping in sightonly the "male text" of the ritual wedding complex, are realizedthroughtheplotthat alwaysstartswiththeverse: "Nadalekozaprosidevojku"/Helookedfar off to find himself a bride/. Fromthe pointofview of epics, a "far off' betrothal is a wrongmove andcannotbeac-40 vs. I: "Merciful God, agreat wonder!": vs. 8: "But suddenly. Ohlook, agreatwonder!": vs. 20: "But I will tell youofagreat wonder": VS. 24: "Andmiraclesarespokenof thatgirl": vs. 91-93: "All of thembowed a low bowdown. /tumingtheir eves downtothedarkearth. / Ach! Shewasa wonder of beautv": vs. 114:"But. 6 thewonder and () the honour" . "' .41 vs. 129-131: "But thebrothersbrought himthe best present. / the bestpresent andthe hardest of sorrows, / they brought theirsister to the son-in-law".42 "When Milich the Ensign was tobe wed /hetraveledthe land over, town bytown, / into the east,round to the west again, / he did not find a girl fittedfor him./ a handsome boyfindsfaultwithallthegirls. / His mood wastolet the weddingplango hang, / but suddenly, Oh look, a greatwonder!"43 "WhenStephen Tsarof Serbiamarried, / he looked far off to find himself a bride,/ helooked in Ledjan the Latincity. / cityof Michael, of the Latin king, / andthenameof theprincess was Roxana. / TheTsaraskedfor theprincess in marriage, /and King Michael consented to the match". Cited from the same book oftranslations ("Stephen Dushans Wedding". vs. 1-8).234 Mirjana Deteliccomplished withoutseriousconsequences.t" That meansthat wedding,tobecomeanepical topic, first hastobereduced to"male text" only,andthenpromotesomeactionof disorder. Inthe caseof MilichtheEnsign, differentlyfromthe poems about epicweddings withobsta-cles, disorder is brought not only mto the chainofregular weddingevents(what ispronetobeinterpretedasabreakpointinendogamy-exogamyrelationship), but - and this is particularly stressed - the sin ofvanityis committedalso ("Glavit junaksvakoj manunade" /Ahand-some boyfinds fault withall thegirls/).Beginning likethis, thepoem tends to stress thisline of action andtoleadit tothepoint whereit isnomorelogicallyneeded. Thenextsteponthis lineisirregularbetrothal ("Nit'jeprosi, nijabukedaji, /Veeti kupi kicenesvatove, / Pakti idi Vidupo devojku" verses 43-45),45 whichisfinallyformulatedintheverse"Potegli smonaBogaIsrecu" (69)46 Milich addressed his future father in law WIth."Namjera'v'" and "sreca'' (fortune), especially as a context of citingGod'sname, inSerbiantraditional culturehavespecial characteristicsandbytheirmeaningarecloselyconnected tothe motivecomplexofdestiny, whichisfully documentedinfolklorei''Interpretedlikethis,citedverses areverifiedasanintentionandpreparationfor theintro-duction of "evil/charm"which is brought into action immediatelyafter.It is actually by themthat responsibility for meaning, development,andoutcomeof events are clearly anddefinitelytransferredinto theworld of higher powerswhere onlynumendecidesanddisposesabso-lutely. By this, humanworldis devoidofsubstanceandbecomes atheatre of shadowswhereactorsnever giveupandneverstopsearch-ing for the meaning because they are not conscious ofthe leadinghand. Thus outlined, thisverticalaxes is not a figure of style but a vitalaxes of epicpoetryexistenceingeneral, for it providescontinuityand44 More on this: Detelic, 1992, pp.221-25445 "Do not goask, givenogolden apple, / onlygather the partyfinelydressed, / andgo toVid andbring back the girl".46 "Trusting in Godand fortunewe set out".47 That is. "namjera"fromthe verseno. 12: "Predcrkvorn ga namjera namjeri"/ andfortunebrought himthereoutside thechurch". Bythis, thestressgoeson thewayMilich got information about his future bride. Serbian word "namjera" has acomplexmeaning. Inthiscaseitisusedtosignify somethinginbetweendivineprovidence andaccident. Milich met Maleta theDukebychance, but thischancewasprearranged by an invisible andunnoticeable higher (divine) power.48 In charms, fairytales, legends. More about it: Detelic, 1992, pp. 63-64, 290-292.The Function and Significance of Formula in Epic Poetry235connection between layers of meaning different by provenance anddu-ration.Usingformulaasamainvehicletoaccomplishthis, epicsisnotbound toactivateallthelayersalong this axes everytimeit confrontsthem, aswell as-if it actuallyhappens-it doesn'thavetogiveevi-dence of itspurpose. Asanexample, wecould consider the"watchingthewedding guest party" formula. Ingeneral, it is most oftenIn poemsabouttheabductionandchristening of Turkishmaiden. In"TheWed-ding of Milich theEnsign"it isusedout of this context, but still inac-cordance with theplot:Kad subili prem ' Vidovudvoru,Na pendzer seVide naslonio,Psakad videkicenesvatove.Samje sobomVide govorio:"Mili Bote, lijepijeh svata! ..Ciji li su, kud ce po devojku?"(58_64)49On the contrary, in another epic poem - "Zarucnica LazaRadanovica"(Vuk II,?) - theuse of the same formula:KadS1l svati blizu dvorahili,Besedila devojacka majka:"ldu, cerko. kiceni svatovi,U cijece dvoreulaziti?Cijace imajka docekati? CijaI'braca konje privatiti?('1/' li babavinom posluziti?C';ijaI' seja darom darivati?" (9_16)50doesn't suit theplot forthemaidenis regularlyspoken for, so theweddingpartydoesn't come tofetchher unannounced. 51 This formula(intheformof questionsandanswers, i.e. duplicated)canbefoundinfolkloreritual lyric poetryasa separate poem, which means that inrit-ual it hasitsproperplaceanddoesn'tneedanyexplanation. Whether49 "Whenthey came opposite toVid's house, I Vidleaned at the windowof hishouse, I hesawthewedding partyfinelydressed, I andVidspoketohimself inthesewords: I 'Merciful God! a handsome wedding party?/ Whoseis it, whatgirlis it fetchinghome?' " (vs. 58-63).50 "Whentheweddingpartywasnear thehouse, I Girl'smothersaid: /'Daughter,wedding partyfinelydressedis coming, / Whosehousetheywill enter?/ Whosemother will welcome them? / Whose brothers take thehorses? / Whose fatherserve themvine?/ Whose sister give thempresents?' " (This poem is notmc1udedin Marko the Prince. The present translation is literal and word-for-wordrendering of the very meaning of citedverses.)51 Withtheexception of Slavonicantithesis, rhetoricquestionis not standard figureofstyleinoral epicpoetry. Fromtheaspect ofplot (what isimmediatelyeitherbeforeor after it),thisformulais stillinsufficientlymotivated,as if something isstill lacking within thenarrativechain. The question couldprobablybe solvedthroughcomparativeanalysis of ritual weddinglyncpoetry (e.g. VukI, 16, 89)and alike.236 MirjanaDetelicornot itis of substantial significancefortheinterpretationof suchitsirregular usein epics, is immaterial for our present purpose. Seeminglyunnecessary, it is yet the onlyconnection between the beginning of thepoem(initial formula) andits crucial event: bride's quarrel with hermother andthecurseresulting fromit ("Mila kceri, i tebenebilo!/ Nidoprlatamo, ni ovamo! / Vee ostala sredi gore came" verses 100-102).52 So it happens thata small andunimportant detail (watching thewedding guest party) introduces indirectly the following segmentwhichbothpoemsshare, andwhichisforbothof crucial importance,i.e. the death ofbride-to-beat the same spot (forest) and under thesame conditions(of curseor evil - inbothcases themagicof word).Wemight never be able to decodecorrectly andcompletely all thelay-ers of meaningin thisextraordinaryformula, butweshall alwayssuc-ceed inmarkingsuch its motive function (bringingdisorder) as theepic one, no matter thecontextual extravaganzas.Ontheother hand, thedeathfromcurseorevil, silent andblood-less as it always is whenthe higher power causes it,53forest as theplaceof itsperformance, andthewaycorpses areburried on thespot,introduces thewholespecter of questionsandproblems that cannot besolvedwithout knowledge of fundamental categories of Serbian tradi-tional culture, that is without involving its basicideasabout thisworldandthe other, life anddeath, ordinaryand sacredspace, andsoon.Thissphere is toovastandtoocomplex tobe incorporated inanything(onthe contrary-everythingelse isincorporatedinit), let alonethethematicallylimited paper onsocalled"lesser questions". Itisimpor-tant to show herehow the formulasare managed in thiscontext,so it'shightimetoreviewtheparallelismsof our typesY, VII andXcitedabove. The firstand the mostimportant thing to bear in mind is thattheepics knows not of accident. 54 If the curse and evil arethe causeof52 "Dear daughter,mayyou not be!/ Mayyounot comeeither hereorthere! / Butmavvou rest in the middle of a darkforest".53 ThIs way of dyinghas itsownformula: "Dole leze, goreneustade" ("Downhelied, up he never got again"). Thus Marko the Prince dies by "God, the oldhangman". For a specific interpretationofthis particular formula see Nodilo,1981, p. 345.54 Thisis alsotheresult of "action" alongthecited vertical axes. EpICheroes,beinghuman, mayhavetheimpression thatthings are happening hazardously, theymayevenstronglybelieve inthis, but above (or off) the eventsof their O\VIl worldother forces areactive. They, andnot men, decideabout thewayandoutcome ofevents, andforthem the ~ i d e n t orhazard simplydoesn't exist. Therearemanyways to express it through an epicpoem: by a place withsomespecial significance'TIle Function andSignificance of Formula in Epic Poetrv237deathintheforest it isnot because thesinger likesit that wayorbe-cause itsuitstheplot thebest, but because forest isa chthonicspace,theplaceevil, curse, andthelikeareregularlysenttobythemagicalcharms, for itbelongstothemasawaste, alien, andinsubordinatetohuman order. 55 If a personshould die there, therehe or shewill remainforevernot onlybecausesucha placeis impure bycult(and sois thedeceasedwhoisnot permittedtothesacredspaceof graveyard), butalsobecausesuchapersonisalready whereheor sheshouldbe- IIItheworldof deadwheretheir existence goeson in a special way. Thisdoublefunctionalityischaracteristic of everything that goes onin theforest. Poemdoesn'tlie whenit saysthat thewater brought above themaiden'shead, thebencharoundthewater, andtherosesonitsbothsides arelabeled for theliving: tothethirstytodrink, tothetiredtorest, andtotheyoungtoadomthemselves"forthesakeof beautifulmaiden's soul". It simply doesn't feel the need tointerpret what itsproper audience alreadyknows: that everything thatgoes"for thesakeof one'ssoul"in factbelongs to thedead-waterbecause theyareal-waysthirsty, moneyto payfor theentrance into theother world, rosesto keep their souls. So, beingthe point wheretwo opposite worldsmeet, epical forest is theplaceof tworealities, theplace of transitionand, forthat matter, a dangerous place. And yet Milich's brideis bur-iedonthat place towards the east, "towards the risingof the brightsun".56If it were not forthis burial towardstheeast, the parallelismofLjeposava's andMilich's deaths shouldbe devoidofall sense. Thepoembearsnoindications whatsoever that theplaceof Milich'sdeath(his home) is to be considered chthonic andimpure: on thecontrary, itis quiteopposite, as wellas the orientation of hisgrave(towards west,"wheretheglowingsunsets") isquiteoppositetothesituation of hisbride's grave. So it happens thatoneelement of equivalence(deathby(forest, water. road, crossroads), bysupernatural creatures that dwellthere(dragons.fairies, vipers, beings withthreeheads,black Arabs, saintsandangels, Godhimself).byforces theinfluenceofwhich canbeexperiencedthere (evil/charm, curse, death.fate).55 Incharms. SecRadenkovic, 1986.56 Although this verse m translation from Markothe Princegoes: "towards therisingof the splendid sun" inboth cases (of Milichandhis bride), the actual worddescribingthe sun is "bright" for the bride, and"glowing" for the groom. Poeminsistsonthe differencebetweenbnght andglowingand has -as we shall soonsee - special reasonsfor it. Becauseof that, we shall abandon MarkothePrinceand stick totheliteraltranslation.238 Miriana Detelichigherpower)brings alongthewhole chainof binaryoppositionsthesignificanceof which iscrucial for thetraditionit belongsto: west-east, home-forest, male-female, pure-impure. It mayfreely be statedthatsucha parallelismis notbound bywhat is equal in it. but bywhatis different withinthe identical.Now, if we split thosepairsintoparallel lines of identity, thiswillresult inthefollowing: west-home-male-pureandeast-forest-female-impure. Thefirst weobservehere IStheincompatibilityof theirele-ments: west and eastseem to haveexchanged their places byerror-? orto haveerroneouslyeven comeinto thiscontext. And yet the poem lit-erallyinsists on theconnections west-male and east-female, not onlyinthemiddle of narration(ontheburial of brideandgroom)but alsoatits end- at the point which is itselfmarked as astrongone, whenMilich's mother addresses westand east sun as her son and daughter inlaw. It ishard tobelievethat epics makeerrors III thematter of suchimportance.What reallyispossibleandacceptable, andwhat regularlyhap-pensnotonlyin theepicsbut in oral literaturein general, arevariouskinds ofcontamination, resulting usually fromtwo combinedproc-esses: byoverlappingof twoor more genres, andbyoverlappingofmany different layers of meaningwithin oneandthesame genre. Inthis particular case it is possible to find indications of both.Tracingourstepsbackwards, thefirst approached layer isIII facttheone inwhich the relationships male-femaleandpure-impurearenot problematized but promoted as a standard element of custom-ritualwedding complex. As both the epic and lyric poetry exhibit theirproper solutionsforit, thereis noreasonfor genreoverlapping of anykindandweshall not observethemwithin this layer. The next stepleads tosemanticlayer of oppositionhome-forest - oneof the mostgeneral and themostpotentgenerative principles of traditionalculture.It includes the previous layer and enlarges it by new relationships (thisworld-other world, living-dead, human-numen, own-alien). Throughtheactionof charm/evil, themanprecisely here- as a vehicle of death57 East is, bytradition. malesideof thingsandelement of positivedivisions(righthand side, thepurebycult - boththechurch altar andthe housesaint'siconfaceeast. life -the folklore dance "kola" faces east. and soon). whilewest is quiteopposite: "kola" forthedeadfaces west (inthispoem too). theother world isonthewest. when somebodydiesinthe housethecorpse ISbrought outthroughthedoor that faceswest, wifesits atthetableon thelefthand side(facing west), andalike.TIleFunction and Signiticance ofFormula in Epic Poetrv 239by themagic of word - shows theindications of lethal principle forthefirst time. So, in theoppositionmale-female heis logicallysituated onthewest side withall theconsequences. On the other hand, forest - as aplace of transition- hasthepower tochange thesignificance of thingsgoing oninit andtotransformmomentarypropertiesintopermanent.Thus, themomentarycult impurityof betrothed maidenbecomesper-manent by her death and burial inthe forest ("Ni kodmogani kodtvoga dvora"), as well as the momentary chthonic property ofthegroom, afteritenabled him topasstheforestaliveandwell, becomespermanent and thusmakeshislifeat home impossible.Y'Ihe activationof demon world (evil/charm, "namera", fortune, fate)at theplace it be-longs to and giving it the fullpower of influence, makes a part of lowermythology wherethe abstract functions of ancient pagandeities be-comeconcreteandenterthephase of nomination. 59 Withinthis layerthefirst genre overlapping areobserved, as a great number of lyric po-ems offer the pictureof abductionand death for the fetchingof thebride, and for theparting with her form of ritual lamentation. 60Finally, at thedeepest semantic layer - where theopposition east-west isbranchedintopairs: bright sunarising- glowingsunsetting,daughterinlaw -son, Ljeposava-Milich-overlappingaretwofoldtotheextreme,by their meaning connecting withsolar myths, andbythegenre with ritual lyricpoetry. Thepoem gives manifold andsignificantindications about it,starting withthedescription of Milich's bride ("IIisi jeodzlatasalila?/ IIi si jeodsrebraskovala?/IIi si jeodsuncaotela'T"andof her influenceonothers("Krozmaramezasijalolice, /Svatovima 06zasjenile/ Odgospodskoglicai odela"),62 through thecryptogram of forenames(Vid-name of bride'sfather, variabilityofMilich's name)63 andnumber of Vi d'sdaughters (nine), to theformula58LazoRadanovichdoesn't causehisbride'sdeath, sohedoesn't sufferthesamefate. Deathin the houseand the burialtowards west couldalso be interpreted as ashort lifeof theSun whichdies at theendof everysingleday(see Nodilo, 1981,p. 199).59 MllrjJbl uapoooe uupa, 2, C.B. Cnaaaucxaa MII