Tag: OralTraditions

  • Before Poetry Had Authors: How Civilizations Remembered Through Form

    Before Poetry Had Authors: How Civilizations Remembered Through Form

    Before poetry became personal expression, it served a far older purpose: preservation. In early civilizations, poems were not authored, owned, or improvised. They were repeated with precision, shaped by rhythm and structure to survive across generations without writing. This essay explores how form—not authorship—once carried memory, belief, and identity, and what we may have lost…