ORAL
LI
TERATURE
NOTES
AND
MODELQUESTI
ON
PAPERS
CHAPTERONE
ABRIEFI
NTRODUCTI
ON
,Or all iter atur ei sone of t hear east est edi nLi teratur e i nEngl ishoft heKeny a
Cer tificat eof
Secondar yEducat ionEx ami nat ions. Theot herar easi nt hispaperi ncludeTheNov el,
Dr ama, Poet ryandt heShor tSt or y
.
Whati sOr alliterat ur e?
Hav ey ou ev er i magi ned what l ifewasl ike i nt he day s ofour gr eat –gr eat
grandf ather s?Howdi dtheyspend t hei rl eisur et ime?Cer t
ainl
yt heydi d notspend
thei rf ree t ime r eadi ng t he wor ks oft hei rgr eatwr iters.Thi si s si mply because
they coul d not r ead.The ci vili
z ation of r eadi ng andwr it
ing was st illat i ts
rudi ment aryst agesand i n somepar t
soft hewor l
dt hi scivili
zat i
on wasunhear d
of. Booksasweknowt hem t odayar eamuchr ecenti nvent ion.
Butar ewe suggest ingt hatsi mpl ybecause t her ewer e no nov elsorshor tst or i
es
asweknow t hem t oday ,ther ewer eno st or i
esorpoemsorot herar t
ist
icf orms?Far
from i t!Fr om t i
mei mmemor i
al ,man has al way st old st or i
es.He has al way s
reci ted poems.Thesest oriesand poemsar ear ef l
ect ion ofhumani tyatv arious
stages on dev el opment .I ti st hr ough st ori es and poems t hatpeopl e def i
ne
themsel ves:whot heyar e;whatt heybel iev ei n;whatt heyv alue;t heiroccupat i
ons;
whatt heyeatet c.
Sincet hear tofwr iti
ngwasnotaswi despr eadasi ti st oday ,howwer et hese st ories,
poemsand
songspr eser v edand t ransmi t ted?They werepr eser v ed i npeopl e’s memoryand
transmi ttedbywor dofmout h.I naddi t
ionAf ri can soci et iesf orin stance, theex tended
fami lywoul d gat heratt hehear th(f irepl ace)i nt heev eni ngaftersupperandspend
ti
met el l
ingst or iesandposi ngr iddl es.
Chi ldrenwoul d memori est hesest or ies andr iddlesandwoul dsoonst artr etelli
ng
them andwhent heygr ew up,t heywoul dhandt hem down t ot heirchi l
drenandt he
cy clewoul dcont inue. Thi ssi tuat ionst i
ll obt ains i nmanysoci eties today .Thi s
especi al l
yt hecasei nmanyr ur alar easwher eonei sl ikelyt of i
ndcommuni ti
est hose
arel ar gel yhomogenous.I nt hesecommuni t
iesor al l
iter atureisv erymuchal ive
A ment i
oned abov e,or all iter atur ei st ransmi tted by wor d ofmout h.Fort his
reasoni ti scal ledor al.
As y ou r ev ise or al l i
ter atur e,t her efore,y ou shoul d bear i n mi nd t hat Or al
Liter atur ei s
spoken,gener al l
yper for medand of t
endr amat izedby a ski l
led per f
ormer .That
meanst hati fy ou ar er eadi ng a nar rativef ori nst ance,y ouhav et o beari n mi nd
thatt henar rativ ewasact uallyper for medt oal iveaudi enceasopposedt oanov el or
a shor tst orywhoseori gi nalf or matwast hewr i
tten f or m.Youshoul d alsoco
nsi dert hatt het ar getaudi encef orapar t
icul arpi eceofor alshar esa common soci al
,
cul turalandhi st or i
calbackgr ound.Theycoul d,f ori nst ancebemember sofa
par ticul aret hni ccommuni tyorev enmember soft hesamev i
ll
ageorcl an.
Orall
i
ter
ature:
Ami snomer?
Much ofthe confusi
on sur
rounding t
he studyofor all
it
erat
urest
ems from t he
verynatureoft henameoft hesubject:Oralli
ter
atur
e.Oxfor
d Advanced Lear
ner
’s Di
cti
onary defi
nes t
he word“
oral
”as “spoken;notwri
ten:an or
t alexami nat
ion,
,stori
espassedon by or
alt
radi
ti
on (
i.
e.f
rom one gener
ati
on t
othe nextwi
thout
beingwrit
ten)
…
The same dicti
onar
y defines t
he wor
d“l
it
erat
ure”as“
”wr
it
ingst
hatar
eval
uedas
worksofar
tespeci
all
yfi
cti
on,drama,
andpoet
ry….
”
From t hetwodef i
nit
ionsabov ewear equicktonot ethattheter
m oralli
ter
ature
generatesanobv i
ouscont r
adicti
on.Thatwhichisoral
cannotal
sobewrit
ten
atthesame t i
me.Iti s becauseoft he contradi
cti
on by thi
st erm that many
scholars hav
e suggested alt
ernati
vet er
ms to descr
ibe t
hesubj
ect.These i
nclude
verbalar t
,orat
ure,perfor
medar tet
c.Ifyouwer easkedtosuggestamor esuit
able
ter
mt oref
ertothesamesubj ect,whatwouldyouuse?
Featur
esoforalLi
ter
ature
These ar
ef eat
ures thatdi
sti
ngui
shorall
i
ter
atur
efr
om ot
herf
orms ofl
i
ter
atur
e
suchastheNov elandtheShortSt
ory
.
Thespokenwor d
Asopposed t otheNov el,and theShor tSt or
ywhoser awmat eri
alsist
hewr it
ten
wor d,
Or alLiter
aturereli
esont hespokenwor d.
Nar rati
ves and songs are passed down f rom onegenerati
on tothenextthr
ough
the
spokenwor dpreserv
ed i nin peopl e’
smemor yasopposedtot hewrit
tenwor d
preser v
edi n books.Itis onlyaf t
ert heinventi
onofwr i
ti
ng thatmostoft heor al
l
iteraturepieceshav ebeen wr i
tten down so t hattheycan bereadil
yavail
abl
et o
peopl eforstudyandanalysi
s.
Occasion
As opposedt ot he “writ
ten”f ormsofl it
er at
ure,someoft heoralli
teratur
e pieces
cal
lf or
Specifi
coccasionsto beper formed.Fori nstancet herewil
lbesongsperf ormed
during
marr iageceremonies,funeral
s,whilesoothi ngt hebaby tosleep, whenwor king,
beforegoing
to waretc.Inotherf
ormsl it
eratureforinstancet henov
el,t
heshor tstoryordr ama,
theaspectofoccasionisnoti mportant
.Fori nstanceonecanreadanov elanyti
me.
Perf
ormance
Oralli
ter
atureli
ves i
nperfor
mance One cannotf orinstance, f
ull
y appreci
atea
weddingsongunlessiti
sper f
ormedinor dertounderstandandenj oy.Whenoral
l
it
eraturepiecesarewri
tt
endown,theaspectsofper
for
mancear elost
.
Reasonsforstudyingoral
li
ter
aturei
nschool/
import
anceofor
alli
ter
ature
Oralli
ter
atureforms an importantpar
tofi nf
ormaleducat
ion byt eachi
ng peopl
e
t
o
i
mpr ov
etheirSelfexpr
essi
on,Powersofobser
vat
ionandmemor y
.Ital
soshar penst
hei
r
, Wit
sandImagi nat
ion,Itt
eaches peopl eSoci
alval
uesBehav i
ourandHow tor elateto
t
heworl
dandt oothersItalsoinformspeopleonthei
rcollect
ivehi
storyandculture,It
i
salsoarichsourceofentertai
nment I
,thelpsusappreci
atet hecultur
eofot herco
mmunit
ies in our countr yleading toabetterunder
standing oft hese cultures,
whi
chcoul dleadto soci alcohesion( uni
tyindi
ver
sit
y).
Some f or
ms ofor alli
ter
atur
e coul
d be used t
o mobil
iz
ethe masses towar
da
cert
ain
goal.Thef
ightagai
nstHIV/
AIDShasbeenlargel
yconduct
edthr
oughsongs.
Typesofor allit
erat
ure
Thesear eal so call
edgenr
es orf
ormsorev
encl
assi
fi
cat
ionsofor
all
i
ter
atur
e.They
i
nclude:
1.Oralnarratives
2.Songs/oral poetry
3.TheShor tFor ms.
)a)Proverbs
b)Tonguet wisters
c)Riddles
CHAPTER TWO
ORALNARRATI VES
Thesearefurt
hercategori
zed/classi
fi
ed
a.Myths
b.Legends
c.Eti
ological
/explanat
orynarr
atives
d.Tri
cksternarrat
ives
e.Monsternarrati
ves
F Humannar rati
ves
MYTHS
a.A my thisast oryt
hatatt
emptt oexpl
aintheor
igi
nsofapar ti
cul
arphenomenon.
b.Itcoul daccountf ortheor i
ginsofacommuni ty,orothernatur
alphenomena.
A
my t
hinvolvesgodsandot hersupernat
uralbei
ngsint hei
rstruct
ure.
Communi t
iestreasur
et hem becauseoft hei
rreli
giousv al
ueandast hei
roff
ici
al
accounthowt heycamei ntobei
ng.
ExampleofaMyt h
THEORI GINOFDEATH( Kalenji
n)
Accordi
ngt otheKal
enj
in,thenumberofhunt er
si nthei
rland hadincreasedsomuch
thatt
he wi l
danimalsWere beenwi pedout
.These hunt ersdecided tohuntallthe
animalsoft heplai
n.Onedayoneoft hehuntersst
oppedt odri
nkf rom apool.
Ashe
wasdr i
nkingfr
om thepool,henot i
cedar ef
lect
ioninthewater.Ther ef
lect
ionwasver
ybeautif
ul.Itwasabi rdthatlookedli
keacock.Thef eat
herswerev erybeauti
fulbut
LI
TERATURE
NOTES
AND
MODELQUESTI
ON
PAPERS
CHAPTERONE
ABRIEFI
NTRODUCTI
ON
,Or all iter atur ei sone of t hear east est edi nLi teratur e i nEngl ishoft heKeny a
Cer tificat eof
Secondar yEducat ionEx ami nat ions. Theot herar easi nt hispaperi ncludeTheNov el,
Dr ama, Poet ryandt heShor tSt or y
.
Whati sOr alliterat ur e?
Hav ey ou ev er i magi ned what l ifewasl ike i nt he day s ofour gr eat –gr eat
grandf ather s?Howdi dtheyspend t hei rl eisur et ime?Cer t
ainl
yt heydi d notspend
thei rf ree t ime r eadi ng t he wor ks oft hei rgr eatwr iters.Thi si s si mply because
they coul d not r ead.The ci vili
z ation of r eadi ng andwr it
ing was st illat i ts
rudi ment aryst agesand i n somepar t
soft hewor l
dt hi scivili
zat i
on wasunhear d
of. Booksasweknowt hem t odayar eamuchr ecenti nvent ion.
Butar ewe suggest ingt hatsi mpl ybecause t her ewer e no nov elsorshor tst or i
es
asweknow t hem t oday ,ther ewer eno st or i
esorpoemsorot herar t
ist
icf orms?Far
from i t!Fr om t i
mei mmemor i
al ,man has al way st old st or i
es.He has al way s
reci ted poems.Thesest oriesand poemsar ear ef l
ect ion ofhumani tyatv arious
stages on dev el opment .I ti st hr ough st ori es and poems t hatpeopl e def i
ne
themsel ves:whot heyar e;whatt heybel iev ei n;whatt heyv alue;t heiroccupat i
ons;
whatt heyeatet c.
Sincet hear tofwr iti
ngwasnotaswi despr eadasi ti st oday ,howwer et hese st ories,
poemsand
songspr eser v edand t ransmi t ted?They werepr eser v ed i npeopl e’s memoryand
transmi ttedbywor dofmout h.I naddi t
ionAf ri can soci et iesf orin stance, theex tended
fami lywoul d gat heratt hehear th(f irepl ace)i nt heev eni ngaftersupperandspend
ti
met el l
ingst or iesandposi ngr iddl es.
Chi ldrenwoul d memori est hesest or ies andr iddlesandwoul dsoonst artr etelli
ng
them andwhent heygr ew up,t heywoul dhandt hem down t ot heirchi l
drenandt he
cy clewoul dcont inue. Thi ssi tuat ionst i
ll obt ains i nmanysoci eties today .Thi s
especi al l
yt hecasei nmanyr ur alar easwher eonei sl ikelyt of i
ndcommuni ti
est hose
arel ar gel yhomogenous.I nt hesecommuni t
iesor al l
iter atureisv erymuchal ive
A ment i
oned abov e,or all iter atur ei st ransmi tted by wor d ofmout h.Fort his
reasoni ti scal ledor al.
As y ou r ev ise or al l i
ter atur e,t her efore,y ou shoul d bear i n mi nd t hat Or al
Liter atur ei s
spoken,gener al l
yper for medand of t
endr amat izedby a ski l
led per f
ormer .That
meanst hati fy ou ar er eadi ng a nar rativef ori nst ance,y ouhav et o beari n mi nd
thatt henar rativ ewasact uallyper for medt oal iveaudi enceasopposedt oanov el or
a shor tst orywhoseori gi nalf or matwast hewr i
tten f or m.Youshoul d alsoco
nsi dert hatt het ar getaudi encef orapar t
icul arpi eceofor alshar esa common soci al
,
cul turalandhi st or i
calbackgr ound.Theycoul d,f ori nst ancebemember sofa
par ticul aret hni ccommuni tyorev enmember soft hesamev i
ll
ageorcl an.
Orall
i
ter
ature:
Ami snomer?
Much ofthe confusi
on sur
rounding t
he studyofor all
it
erat
urest
ems from t he
verynatureoft henameoft hesubject:Oralli
ter
atur
e.Oxfor
d Advanced Lear
ner
’s Di
cti
onary defi
nes t
he word“
oral
”as “spoken;notwri
ten:an or
t alexami nat
ion,
,stori
espassedon by or
alt
radi
ti
on (
i.
e.f
rom one gener
ati
on t
othe nextwi
thout
beingwrit
ten)
…
The same dicti
onar
y defines t
he wor
d“l
it
erat
ure”as“
”wr
it
ingst
hatar
eval
uedas
worksofar
tespeci
all
yfi
cti
on,drama,
andpoet
ry….
”
From t hetwodef i
nit
ionsabov ewear equicktonot ethattheter
m oralli
ter
ature
generatesanobv i
ouscont r
adicti
on.Thatwhichisoral
cannotal
sobewrit
ten
atthesame t i
me.Iti s becauseoft he contradi
cti
on by thi
st erm that many
scholars hav
e suggested alt
ernati
vet er
ms to descr
ibe t
hesubj
ect.These i
nclude
verbalar t
,orat
ure,perfor
medar tet
c.Ifyouwer easkedtosuggestamor esuit
able
ter
mt oref
ertothesamesubj ect,whatwouldyouuse?
Featur
esoforalLi
ter
ature
These ar
ef eat
ures thatdi
sti
ngui
shorall
i
ter
atur
efr
om ot
herf
orms ofl
i
ter
atur
e
suchastheNov elandtheShortSt
ory
.
Thespokenwor d
Asopposed t otheNov el,and theShor tSt or
ywhoser awmat eri
alsist
hewr it
ten
wor d,
Or alLiter
aturereli
esont hespokenwor d.
Nar rati
ves and songs are passed down f rom onegenerati
on tothenextthr
ough
the
spokenwor dpreserv
ed i nin peopl e’
smemor yasopposedtot hewrit
tenwor d
preser v
edi n books.Itis onlyaf t
ert heinventi
onofwr i
ti
ng thatmostoft heor al
l
iteraturepieceshav ebeen wr i
tten down so t hattheycan bereadil
yavail
abl
et o
peopl eforstudyandanalysi
s.
Occasion
As opposedt ot he “writ
ten”f ormsofl it
er at
ure,someoft heoralli
teratur
e pieces
cal
lf or
Specifi
coccasionsto beper formed.Fori nstancet herewil
lbesongsperf ormed
during
marr iageceremonies,funeral
s,whilesoothi ngt hebaby tosleep, whenwor king,
beforegoing
to waretc.Inotherf
ormsl it
eratureforinstancet henov
el,t
heshor tstoryordr ama,
theaspectofoccasionisnoti mportant
.Fori nstanceonecanreadanov elanyti
me.
Perf
ormance
Oralli
ter
atureli
ves i
nperfor
mance One cannotf orinstance, f
ull
y appreci
atea
weddingsongunlessiti
sper f
ormedinor dertounderstandandenj oy.Whenoral
l
it
eraturepiecesarewri
tt
endown,theaspectsofper
for
mancear elost
.
Reasonsforstudyingoral
li
ter
aturei
nschool/
import
anceofor
alli
ter
ature
Oralli
ter
atureforms an importantpar
tofi nf
ormaleducat
ion byt eachi
ng peopl
e
t
o
i
mpr ov
etheirSelfexpr
essi
on,Powersofobser
vat
ionandmemor y
.Ital
soshar penst
hei
r
, Wit
sandImagi nat
ion,Itt
eaches peopl eSoci
alval
uesBehav i
ourandHow tor elateto
t
heworl
dandt oothersItalsoinformspeopleonthei
rcollect
ivehi
storyandculture,It
i
salsoarichsourceofentertai
nment I
,thelpsusappreci
atet hecultur
eofot herco
mmunit
ies in our countr yleading toabetterunder
standing oft hese cultures,
whi
chcoul dleadto soci alcohesion( uni
tyindi
ver
sit
y).
Some f or
ms ofor alli
ter
atur
e coul
d be used t
o mobil
iz
ethe masses towar
da
cert
ain
goal.Thef
ightagai
nstHIV/
AIDShasbeenlargel
yconduct
edthr
oughsongs.
Typesofor allit
erat
ure
Thesear eal so call
edgenr
es orf
ormsorev
encl
assi
fi
cat
ionsofor
all
i
ter
atur
e.They
i
nclude:
1.Oralnarratives
2.Songs/oral poetry
3.TheShor tFor ms.
)a)Proverbs
b)Tonguet wisters
c)Riddles
CHAPTER TWO
ORALNARRATI VES
Thesearefurt
hercategori
zed/classi
fi
ed
a.Myths
b.Legends
c.Eti
ological
/explanat
orynarr
atives
d.Tri
cksternarrat
ives
e.Monsternarrati
ves
F Humannar rati
ves
MYTHS
a.A my thisast oryt
hatatt
emptt oexpl
aintheor
igi
nsofapar ti
cul
arphenomenon.
b.Itcoul daccountf ortheor i
ginsofacommuni ty,orothernatur
alphenomena.
A
my t
hinvolvesgodsandot hersupernat
uralbei
ngsint hei
rstruct
ure.
Communi t
iestreasur
et hem becauseoft hei
rreli
giousv al
ueandast hei
roff
ici
al
accounthowt heycamei ntobei
ng.
ExampleofaMyt h
THEORI GINOFDEATH( Kalenji
n)
Accordi
ngt otheKal
enj
in,thenumberofhunt er
si nthei
rland hadincreasedsomuch
thatt
he wi l
danimalsWere beenwi pedout
.These hunt ersdecided tohuntallthe
animalsoft heplai
n.Onedayoneoft hehuntersst
oppedt odri
nkf rom apool.
Ashe
wasdr i
nkingfr
om thepool,henot i
cedar ef
lect
ioninthewater.Ther ef
lect
ionwasver
ybeautif
ul.Itwasabi rdthatlookedli
keacock.Thef eat
herswerev erybeauti
fulbut
