Introduction

Folklore is oral history that is preserved by the people of the culture,

consisting of traditions belonging to a specific culture. These traditions
usually include music, stories, history, legends, and myths. Folklore is
passed down from generation to generation and is kept active by the
people in the culture.

Folklore allows people to give meaning to their lives and their

surroundings. Because every culture has different historical backgrounds
and traditions, folklore has a different definition to each culture. The
definition presented in this lesson is a general one that covers the topic
broadly.

Folklore, literature, and society have an intricate relationship, as each

informs and influences the other in a complex interplay. Folklore,
representing a community's collective wisdom, beliefs, and traditions,
finds expression in literature, which shapes and reflects societal norms
and values. This critical essay aims to explore the multifaceted
connections between folklore, literature, and society, delving into how
folklore serves as a source of inspiration for literary works and how
literature, in turn, contributes to the construction of cultural identity and
societal transformation.

Folklore is all forms of prose narrative, written or oral, which has come
down through the years. It may be folk songs, folktales, riddles, proverbs,
or other materials preserved in words or in writing. Oyekan Owomoyela,
(1979), in his book, African Literature: An Introduction, expresses that
there is hardly any phase of tradition and life that is not affected or
regulated by some aspect of the folklore, because it is the medium through
which the behavioural values of the community, the cumulative wisdom
and technology devised by, by gone age are made available to the present
generation and preserved for posterity (1).
Folklore allows people to give meaning to their lives and their
surroundings. Because every culture has different historical backgrounds
and traditions, folklore has a different definition to each culture. The
definition presented in this lesson is a general one that covers the topic
broadly. It encompasses children’s games and songs. It involves belief
systems: rites and rituals surrounding coupling, childbirth, initiation into
adulthood, and ideas about the afterlife. It encompasses styles of building,
foods, and recipes, the use of medicinal plants. Folklore is not generally
passed along in formal educational settings, but through group ceremony,
individual tutoring, and children’s play. Folklore represents a shared set
of beliefs, and may, therefore, be a part of any kind of shared culture, not
just one that has history or ethnicity or religion or language in common.
In the modern world, computer programmers have common lore, as do
stage actors and surfers.
Folklore, general term for the verbal, spiritual, and material aspects of any
culture that are transmitted orally, by observation, or by imitation. People
sharing a culture may have in common an occupation, language, ethnicity,
age, or geographical location. This body of traditional material is
preserved and passed on from generation to generation, with constant
variations shaped by memory, immediate need or purpose, and degree of
individual talent. The word folklore was coined in 1846 by the English
antiquary William John Thoms to replace the term popular antiquities.
Other writers attest that folklore is the body of expressive culture,
including tales, music, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes,
popular beliefs, customs, and so forth within a particular population
comprising the traditions (including oral traditions) of that culture,
subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those
expressive genres are shared. The academic and usually ethnographic
study of folklore is sometimes called folkloristics. While folklore can
contain religious or mythic elements, it equally concerns itself with the
sometimes mundane traditions of everyday life. Folklore frequently ties
the practical and the esoteric into one narrative package. It has often been
conflated with mythology, and vice versa, because it has been
assumed that any figurative story that does not pertain to the dominant
beliefs of the time is not of the same status as those dominant beliefs.
Thus, Roman religion is called "myth" by Christians. In that way, both
myth and folklore have become catch-all terms for all figurative narratives
which do not correspond with the dominant belief structure. Sometimes
"folklore" is religious in nature, like the tales of the Welsh Mabinogion or
those found in Icelandic skaldic poetry. Many of the tales in the Golden
Legend of Jacob de Voragine also embody folklore elements in a
Christian context: examples of such Christian mythology are the themes
woven round Saint George or Saint Christopher. In this case, the term
"folklore" is being used in a pejorative sense. That is, while the tales of
Odin the Wanderer have a religious value to the Norse who composed the
stories, because it does not fit into a Christian configuration it is not
considered "religious" by Christians who may instead refer to it as
"folklore."

Folk tales are general term for different varieties of traditional narrative.
The telling of stories appears to be a cultural universal, common to basic
and complex societies alike. Even the forms folktales take are certainly
similar from culture to culture, and comparative studies of themes and
narrative ways have been successful in showing these relationships. Also
it is considered to be an oral tale to be told for
everybody.

Henning Cohen (1965) in an article ‘American Literature and American

Folklore’ writes that ‘folklore appears in American literature in two ways:
passively or actively, that is transcriptive or functionally.’ (240) The
passive is elementary and happens when a writer presents folk materials
in its original state. It is mere recording or imitation of folklore. This type
of folklore becomes lifeless when it is removed from the folk, whose
creation it is, and put into print. He also writes that ‘writers who are
concerned with creating work of art rather than of the society.(242-243)
Modern folklore writers use folklore to explain or question the society
because they have a rich store of native materials to draw upon.
Some writers like John Iroganachi, Theo Ekechukwu, Romanus Egudu,
Rems Umeasiegbu, E. Nolue Emenanjo and F.C. Ogbalu have collected
and compiled folklore. Some stories explain why women have no beard
eg. Rems Ummeasiegbu’s ‘Why Women Do Not Grow Beards’ and Why
Hawks Carry Away Chicks in The Way We Lived (48)
 CHAPTER 1
ORIGIN AND HISTORY

Folklore in English literature has deep roots, intertwined with the

cultural fabric of the British Isles. From ancient oral traditions to written
works, folklore has played a vital role in shaping English literature. This
essay will explore the origin and evolution of folklore in English
literature, tracing its journey from oral narratives to its incorporation into
written texts.
One of the most enduring aspects of English folklore is its rich tapestry of
mythical beings and creatures. From the noble knights of Arthurian legend
to the mischievous fairies of Shakespearean plays, these mythical entities
have captivated audiences for centuries. These fantastical beings often
served as allegorical representations of human virtues and vices,
providing readers with moral lessons disguised as entertaining tales.

The medieval period saw the emergence of chivalric romances, which

blended elements of folklore with historical events and Christian
symbolism. Works such as “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” and “Le
Morte d'Arthur" drew upon existing folkloric motifs and themes, adapting
them to suit the tastes of a changing audience. These romances celebrated
the ideals of courtly love, bravery, and honor, while also exploring the
darker aspects of human nature.

The Renaissance marked a period of renewed interest in English folklore,

as writers sought to reclaim and reinterpret their cultural heritage in the
face of social and political upheaval. Playwrights like William
Shakespeare drew upon a wealth of folkloric material in their works,
incorporating elements of magic, prophecy, and supernatural beings to
explore themes of power, ambition, and fate. Shakespeare’s plays, such
as “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Macbeth,” are replete with
references to folk beliefs and superstitions, highlighting the enduring
influence of folklore on English literature.

The rise of the Romantic movement in the 18th and 19th centuries further
fueled interest in folklore, as writers and poets sought to reconnect with
the natural world and the folk traditions of their ancestors. Poets like
William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge drew inspiration from
folk ballads and oral poetry, infusing their works with a sense of nostalgia
for a vanishing way of life. The publication of the “Grimm’s Fairy Tales”
in the early 19th century introduced English-speaking audiences to a
treasure trove of folk tales collected from across Europe, further
cementing the place of folklore In literary culture.

The 20th century witnessed a resurgence of interest in folklore, as scholars

and writers sought to preserve and analyze the oral traditions of various
cultures. Folklorists like Alan Lomax and Joseph Campbell conducted
extensive fieldwork to document folk songs, stories, and customs,
shedding light on the diverse and vibrant tapestry of human culture.
Writers such as J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis drew upon their knowledge
of folklore and mythology to create immersive fantasy worlds, populated
by elves, dwarves, and other mythical creatures.
The origin and history of folklore in English literature are rich and
multifaceted, spanning centuries of cultural evolution and artistic
expression. To fully understand this complex tapestry, we must delve into
the deep roots of English folklore, tracing its origins from ancient oral
traditions to its enduring presence in contemporary literature.
1.Ancient Origins:
English folklore finds its roots in the oral traditions of the early inhabitants
of the British Isles. Before the advent of written language, storytelling
served as a means of preserving history, passing down cultural beliefs,
and entertaining communities. These oral narratives encompassed a wide
range of tales, including myths, legends, folk songs, and ballads, each
reflecting the values, fears, and aspirations of the people who created and
shared them.

2.Early Influences:
The cultural landscape of early England was shaped by a tapestry of
influences, including Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Roman traditions.
Each of these cultures contributed to the rich tapestry of English folklore,
infusing it with a diverse array of mythical beings, heroic figures, and
supernatural phenomena. From the Celtic tales of Arthurian legend to the
Norse sagas of gods and heroes, these early influences laid the
groundwork for the development of English folklore as we know it today.

3.Medieval Literature:
The medieval period saw the emergence of written literature in England,
with monks and scholars transcribing oral narratives into manuscripts.
This period witnessed the rise of chivalric romances, which blended
elements of folklore with historical events and Christian symbolism.
Works such as “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” “Beowulf,” and “Le
Morte d’Arthur” drew upon existing folkloric motifs and themes, adapting
them to suit the tastes of a changing audience. These romances celebrated
the ideals of courtly love, bravery, and honour, while also exploring the
darker aspects of human nature.
4.Renaissance Rediscovery:
The Renaissance marked a period of renewed interest in English folklore,
as writers sought to reclaim and reinterpret their cultural heritage in the
face of social and political upheaval. Playwrights like William
Shakespeare drew upon a wealth of folkloric material in their works,
incorporating elements of magic, prophecy, and supernatural beings to
explore themes of power, ambition, and fate. Shakespeare’s plays, such
as “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Macbeth,” are replete with
references to folk beliefs and superstitions, highlighting the enduring
influence of folklore on English literature.

5.Enlightenment and Romanticism:

The Enlightenment and Romantic periods saw a resurgence of interest
in folklore, as writers and poets sought to reconnect with the natural world
and the folk traditions of their ancestors. Poets like William Wordsworth
and Samuel Taylor Coleridge drew inspiration from folk ballads and oral
poetry, infusing their works with a sense of nostalgia for a vanishing way
of life. The publication of the “Grimm’s Fairy Tales” in the early 19 th
century introduced English-speaking audiences to a treasure trove of folk
tales collected from across Europe, further cementing the place of folklore
in literary culture.
6.Modern Interpretations:
In the 20th and 21st centuries, folklore continues to inspire writers and
artists, shaping contemporary literature in new and unexpected ways.
Writers such as J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis drew upon their knowledge
of folklore and mythology to create immersive fantasy worlds, populated
by elves, dwarves, and other mythical creatures. Contemporary authors
like Neil Gaiman and Philip Pullman have also drawn upon folkloric
motifs and themes in their works, exploring the intersections between
myth, magic, and modernity.
In conclusion, the origin and history of folklore in English literature are a
testament to the enduring power of storytelling to captivate, inspire, and
illuminate the human experience. From its humble beginnings in oral
tradition to its diverse manifestations in contemporary literature, folklore
continues to enrich and enliven the literary landscape, providing readers
with a window into the past and a mirror to the present. As long as there
are stories to be told, folklore will remain an integral part of the literary
tradition, connecting us to our shared cultural heritage and the timeless
truths that unite us all.
The nature of oral tradition
Folklore or oral tradition ,Until about 4000 BCE all literature was oral,
but, beginning in the years between 4000 and 3000 BCE, writing
developed both in Egypt and in the Mesopotamian civilization at Sumer.
From that time on there are records not only of practical matters such as
law and business but increasingly of written literature. As the area in
which the habitual use of writing extended over Asia, North Africa, and
the Mediterranean lands and eventually over much of the whole world, a
rapid growth in the composition of written literature occurred, so that in
certain parts of the world, literature in writing has to a large extent become
the normal form of expression for storytellers and poets.
Nor can any evolution in folk literature or any overall developments be
spoken of explicitly. Each group of people, no matter how small or large,
has handled its folk literature in its own way. Depending as it does upon
the transmission from person to person and being subject to the skill or
the lack of skill of those who pass it on and to the many influences,
physical or social, that consciously or unconsciously affect a tradition,
what may be observed is a history of continual change. An item of folk
literature sometimes shows relative stability and sometimes undergoes
drastic transformations. If these changes are looked at from a modern
Western point of view, ethnocentric judgments can be made as to whether
they are on the whole favourable or unfavourable. But it must be
remembered that the folk listening to or participating in its oral literature
have completely different standards from those of their interpreters.
Nevertheless, two directions in this continually changing human
movement may be observed. Occasionally a talented singer or tale-teller,
or perhaps a group of them, may develop techniques that result in an
improvement over the course of time from any point of view and in the
actual development of a new literary form. On the other hand, many items
of folk literature, because of historic movements or overwhelming foreign
influences or the mere lack of skillful practitioners of the tradition,
become less and less important, and occasionally die out from the oral
repertory. The details of such changes have been of great interest to all
students of folk literature.
The beginnings of written literature in Sumer and Egypt 5,000 or 6,000
years ago took place in a world that knew only folk literature. During the
millennia since then written literature has been surrounded and sometimes
all but overwhelmed by the humbler activity of the unlettered. The
emergence of the author and his carefully preserved manuscript came
about slowly and uncertainly, and only in a few places initially—the
literary authorship that flourished in the Athens of Pericles or the
Jerusalem of the Old Testament represented only a very small part of the
world of their time. Nearly everywhere else the oral storyteller or epic
singer was dominant, and all of what is called literary expression was
carried in the memory of the folk, and especially of gifted narrators.
All societies have produced some men and women of great natural
endowments—shamans, priests, rulers, and warriors—and from these has
come the greatest stimulus everywhere toward producing and listening to
myths, tales, and songs. To these the common man has listened to such
effect that sometimes he himself has become a bard. And kings and
councillors, still without benefit of writing, have sat enthralled as he
entertained them at their banquets.
Cultural exchange in written and oral traditions
This folk literature has affected the later written word profoundly. The
Homeric hymns, undoubtedly oral in origin and retaining many of the
usual characteristics of folk literature, such as long repetitions and
formulaic expressions, have come so far in their development that they
move with ease within a uniform and difficult poetic form, have
constructed elaborate and fairly consistent plots and successfully carried
them through, and have preserved in definitive form a conception of the
Olympic pantheon with its gods and heroes, which became a part of
ancient Greek thinking.

Not everywhere has the oral literature impinged so directly on the written
as in the works of Homer, which almost presents a transition from the
preliterate to the literate world. But many folktales have found their place
in literature. The medieval romances, especially the Breton lays, drew
freely on these folk sources, sometimes directly. It is often hard to decide
whether a tale has been learned from folk sources or whether a literary
story has gone the other way and, having been heard from priest or teacher
or doctor, has entered oral tradition and has been treated like any other
folktale or folk song. The unlettered make no distinctions as to origins.

As the Middle Ages lead into the Renaissance, the influence of folk
literature on the work of writers increases in importance, so that it is
sometimes difficult to draw a sharp line of distinction between them. In
literary forms such as the fabliau, many anecdotes may have come
ultimately from tales current among unlettered storytellers, but these have
usually been reworked by writers, some of them belonging in the main
stream of literature, like Boccaccio or Chaucer. Only later, in the 16th and
17th centuries, in such works as those of Gianfranco Straparola and
Giambattista Basile, did writers go directly to folk literature itself for
much of their material.

Since Classical times composers of written literature have borrowed tales

and motifs from oral narratives, and their folk origin has been forgotten.
Examples abound in Homer and Beowulf. In their literary form these
stories have often lived on side by side with tellings and retellings by oral
storytellers. Modern examples of traditions so used are found in Ibsen’s
Peer Gynt and Gerhart Hauptmann’s The Sunken Bell. Particularly
frequent in all literature are proverbs, many of them certainly of folk
origin.

In Finland a good example of the direct use of folk literature in the

construction of a literary epic is seen in the Kalevala, composed by Elias
Lönnrot in the 1830s, primarily by fusing epic songs that he had recorded
from Finnish singers. The Kalevala itself is a national literary monument,
but the songs Lönnrot heard are a part of folk literature.

Writers and song makers have always used themes taken from oral
legends and folk songs (see also folk music) and in their turn have affected
the traditions themselves. In recent years the cinema has presented old
folktales to an appreciative public, and interest in folk songs especially
has been stimulated by the radio and television. Inevitably this oral
literature has become less truly oral, and much pseudo folk literature has
been presented to the public, habituated as it is to the usual literary
conventions.

Within urbanized Western culture it is clear that folk literature has been
gradually displaced by books and newspapers, radio, and television.
Persons interested in hearing authentic oral tales, traditions, or songs must
make special efforts to discover them. There still exist isolated groups that
carry on such traditions—old people, recent immigrant enclaves in cities,
and other minority populations, rural or urban. Children are also important
for the carrying on of certain kinds of oral traditions such as singing
games, riddles, and dance songs. These go on from generation to
generation and are added to continually, always within an oral tradition.

During the past few generations folk festivals have flourished. These have
become almost worldwide and of the greatest variety. They are likely to
revive older dances (see also folk dance) or bring in new ones from other
countries, but they also have some singing and occasionally tale telling.
Usually a genuine attempt is made to keep them within the authentic local
tradition, and they have been a stimulus to the preservation of a
disappearing phase of modern life.
If folk literature is actually dying out, the process is very slow. It is now,
as it has always been, the normal literary expression for the unlettered of
all continents.
Characteristics of folk literature

The most obvious characteristic of folk literature is its orality. In spite of

certain borderline cases, it normally stands in direct contrast to written
literature. The latter exists in manuscripts and books and may be preserved
exactly as the author or authors left it, even though this may have
happened centuries or even millennia ago. Through these manuscripts and
books the thoughts and emotions and observations and even the fine
nuances of style can be experienced without regard to time or distance.
With oral literature this is not possible. It is concerned only with speaking
and singing and with listening, thus depending upon the existence of a
living culture to carry on a tradition. If any item of folk literature ceases
to exist within human memory it is completely lost.
The speaker or singer is carrying on a tradition learned from other
speakers and delivered to a living audience. It may well be that the
listeners have heard this material many times before and that it has a
vigorous life in the community, and they will see to it that the performer
does not depart too far from the tradition as they know it. If acceptable to
the listeners, the story or song or proverb or riddle will be repeated over
and over again as long as it appeals to men and women, even through the
ages and over long geographic distances.

In some cultures nearly everyone can carry on these traditions, but some
men and women are much more skilful than others and are listened to with
greater pleasure. Whatever the nature of these tradition bearers, the
continued existence of an item of oral literature depends upon memory.
As it is passed on from one person to another, it suffers changes from
forgetting or from conscious additions or substitutions; in any case, the
item changes continually.

The more skilful tradition bearers take pride in the exactness with which
they transmit a tale or song just as they have heard it many years before,
but they only deceive themselves, for every performance differs from
every other one. The whole material is fluid and refuses to be stabilized
in a definite form. The teller is likely to find room for improvement and
may well begin a new tradition that will live as long as it appeals to other
tellers. It thus happens that in nearly all cultures certain people specialize
in remembering and repeating what they have heard. There are
semiprofessional storytellers around whom large groups of people
assemble in bazaars or before cottage fires or in leisure hours after labour.
Some of these storytellers have prodigious memories and may with only
slight variations carry on to a new generation hundreds of tales and
traditions heard long ago.

Certain bards and minstrels and song makers develop special techniques
of singing or of telling epic or heroic tales to the accompaniment of a harp
or other musical instrument. In the course of time in various places special
poetic forms have been perfected and passed on from bard to bard. Such
must have been the way in which the remarkably skillful heroic meters of
the Greek epics were developed.

A different kind of oral tradition is preserved by the ritual specialists:

priests, shamans, and others who perform religious ceremonies and
healing rites. Frequently these rituals must be remembered word for word
and are not believed to be effective unless they are correctly performed.
The ideal of such priestly transmitters of oral tradition is complete
faithfulness to that which has been passed down to them.

Not least important of the many reasons for the existence and perpetuation
of folk literature is the need for release from the boredom that comes on
long sea voyages or in army camps or on long winter evenings. Some folk
literature is primarily didactic and tries to convey the information people
need to carry on their lives properly. Among some peoples the relation of
man and the higher powers is of special concern and gives rise to myths
that try to clarify this relationship. Cooperative labour or marching is
helped by rhythmic songs, and many aspects of social life give rise to
various kinds of dance.

A great many of the special forms of literature now in manuscripts and

books are paralleled in traditional oral literature, where history, drama,
law, sermons, and exhortations of all kinds are found, as well as analogues
of novels, stories, and lyric poems.

Folk literature is but a part of what is generally known as folklore:

customs and beliefs, ritualistic behaviour, dances, folk music, and other
nonliterary manifestations. These are often considered a part of the larger
study of ethnology, but they are also the business of the folklorist.

Of special importance is the relation of all kinds of folk literature to

mythology. The stories of Maui and his confreres in the Pacific and of
gods and heroes of African or American Indian groups have behind them
a long and perhaps complicated history. This is especially true of the
highly developed mythologies of India, and the Greek, Irish, and
Germanic pantheons. All are the results of an indefinitely long past, of
growth and outside influences, of religious cults and practices, and of the
glorification of heroes. But whatever the historical, psychological, or
religious motivations, the mythologies are a part of folk literature and,
though traditional, have been subject to continual changes at the hands of
the tale-tellers, singers of stories, or priestly conductors of cults.
Eventually singers or storytellers of philosophical tendencies have
systematized their mythologies and have created with fine imagination the
figures of Zeus and his Olympic family and his semidivine heroic
descendants. Though the details of these changes are beyond the scope of
this article, stories of the gods and heroes and of supernatural origins and
changes on the earth have played an important role in all folk literature.

Folklore is typically passed down orally through generations. So, there are
often variations in their telling.

 A community’s culture is shared through folklore. Folklore could

tell of an important event that affected the people of that community
in a prominent way.
 Folklore could tell of the values and morals of a community. If there
is a moral lesson at the end, it could reflect teaching that the
community believed in.
 Folklore involving heroic tales often incorporates singing with the
accompaniment of musical instruments. This helped the formation
of poetic forms with meters that developed and were passed on over
time. An example of this is the Greek epics
 Tales in folklore often involve animals or characters or a
combination of both and explore how they manage everyday life
events and crises.
 Characters in folklore may have to solve a problem or prove they
have a certain moral value.
 Good and evil are explored through characters who embody these
values. The idea of punishment and reward is also explored.
 Chapter ll
Folklore in English Literature

Folklore and literature have been intricately intertwined for centuries,

serving as both a source of inspiration and a reflection of cultural values.
Folklore, encompassing myths, legends, fairy tales, and oral traditions,
provides a rich tapestry of narratives that have influenced literary works
across different periods and genres. This essay explores the symbiotic
relationship between folklore and literature, examining its evolution and
significance.
Folklore, the body of traditional customs, tales, sayings, dances, or art
forms preserved among a people, plays a crucial role in shaping literature.
In literature, folklore serves as a repository of collective wisdom and a
tool for exploring human nature and societal norms. This essay delves into
the presence and impact of folklore in English literature, from its early
manifestations to contemporary adaptations.
Importance of folklore
Folklore acts as a record of the history of a community’s culture. There is
familiarity in the stories that are shared from generation to generation, and
this connects people from a community across generations. There is often
wisdom you can glean from folklore and you can learn about the successes
and failures of a specific community. Folklore can have a moral lesson at
the end and can show different perspectives within a story in order to teach
this moral lesson.
Folklore has played a significant role in shaping English literature,
influencing it in numerous profound ways. Here are several key points
highlighting its importance:
 Cultural Heritage and Identity:
Folklore embodies the traditions, beliefs, and values of a culture,
serving as a repository of its collective wisdom and history. In
English literature, folklore provides a rich source of material that
connects writers and readers to their cultural roots and identity.

 Inspirational Source for Writers:

Many English literary works draw inspiration from folklore. For
example, Shakespeare incorporated elements of English and
classical folklore into his plays, such as the use of fairies in “A
Midsummer Night’s Dream” and ghosts in “Hamlet.” These
elements add layers of meaning and depth to the narratives.

 Thematic Exploration:
Folklore often deals with universal themes such as good vs. evil,
love, betrayal, and the supernatural. By weaving these themes into
their works, English writers have been able to explore complex
human experiences and moral questions. Folk tales and legends
offer a framework for storytelling that resonates on a fundamental
level with audiences.

 Symbolism and Allegory:

Folklore is rich with symbols and allegories that convey deeper
meanings. In English literature, these elements are often used to
enhance the narrative and provide insight into characters and
themes. For example, in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman
Brown,” folklore elements are used to explore themes of sin and
redemption.
 Preservation of Oral Traditions:
Much of folklore originated in oral traditions, passed down through
generations. English literature has played a crucial role in preserving
these stories by adapting them into written form. Works such as the
collections of fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm and the ballads
collected by Sir Walter Scott have ensured the survival of these
narratives.

 Enrichment of Language:
Folklore has contributed to the enrichment of the English language.
Phrases, idioms, and proverbs that originated in folklore have
become part of everyday speech and literary language, enhancing its
expressiveness and cultural resonance.

 Social Commentary:
Folklore often reflects the social realities and challenges of its time.
By incorporating folklore into their works, English writers can
comment on contemporary issues, critique societal norms, and
advocate for change. For example, Charles Dickens often used
folklore and fairy tale motifs to highlight social injustices and the
plight of the poor.

 Narrative Structure:
Folklore provides a variety of narrative structures that have
influenced English literature. The hero’s journey, the trickster tale,
and the cautionary tale are just a few examples of folk narrative
forms that have been adapted and transformed by English writers.
In summary, folklore’s importance in English literature lies in its ability
to connect the past with the present, provide a rich source of narrative and
thematic material, and enrich the language and cultural heritage of
English-speaking communities. It has helped shape the literary canon and
continues to inspire and inform contemporary writing .

Types of folklore

There are many ways for cultures to express their beliefs through folklore.
Some populations use song and dance to tell their stories, while others tell
larger-than-life stories about mythical heroes. Here are some types of
folklore that you might know.
Folklore in English literature encompasses a wide range of narrative
forms and motifs that have been integrated into various literary works
over centuries. These types of folklore include myths, legends, fairy tales,
fables, and folk songs, among others. Each type serves distinct purposes
and carries unique characteristics that reflect the cultural and societal
values of the time. This essay explores the various types of folklore in
English literature, providing examples and examining their significance.

1)Legends

 A legend will typically tell the story of a real person, place or event
that happened in history. While they are rooted in historical fact,
legends often morph and change over generations of tellings and
retellings.
  A legend often tells the story of improbable events within our
everyday world. Within a legend, it is up to the reader to analyze
any supernatural or extraordinary events and decide whether or not
to believe them as fact.

 For example, think about the story of Robin Hood and his merry
band of thieves. Almost everyone knows the story of Robin Hood -
he robbed from the rich to give to the poor. While Robin Hood is a
fictional character, he is based on a popular English hero from
medieval times.

2) Tall Tales

 In a tall tale, you’ll have no problem knowing that the truth has
been stretched. Tall tales are folk stories about amazing heroes
with incredible and unbelievable abilities.

 For example, think about Johnny Appleseed, Davy Crockett, and

John Henry. These three American heroes are based on real people,
but their characters and abilities have been embellished over time
to impossible heights.

 Johnny Appleseed transformed from a Revolutionary-era apple

orchard caretaker named John Chapman into a tireless leader and
pioneer, planting apple trees to help lead other Americans on the
journey out west. Davy Crockett transformed from an American
politician and soldier into the famous cap wearing “king of the
wild frontier”. John Henry transformed from a railway worker of
the same name into an incredibly powerful man who won a steel-
driving race against a steam powered drill.
3) Myths

 Myths tell the stories of supernatural beings and often offer

explanations for how they relate to natural phenomenon here on
Earth. Myths also offer explanations for both the cultural and
religious views of a society. While many myths were believed to be
true at one time or another, there is no way to verify a myth as
historically accurate.

 Myths often discuss the beginning of the world, and the essential
events and extraordinary acts of divine beings that helped shape it.
Myths help to validate cultural and societal norms and explain why
things are the way they are.

 Today, we often use the term “myth” to describe a story that is

untrue, but within literary folklore, myths are considered sacred and
deeply true to the culture or community from which it originates.

4) Fairy Tales

 If you’re reading a story that involves talking animals or magical

powers, chances are you’re reading a fairy tale. Fairy tales
often depict a struggle between the forces of good and evil.

 Fairy tales take place in an imaginary world with elements, creatures

and events that are often wondrous and whimsical. While fairy tales
are seen as stories for children today, they were once considered to
be entertainment for all ages, even adults.

 Fairy tales can be used in a variety of ways - they can entertain and
inspire, warn and caution, and even instruct and advise. Throughout
history, different cultures have adapted this incredibly versatile form
of folklore to fit the specific needs of their community.
5) Fables

 Fables are a sub-category of Fairy Tales that have a strong moral

component. The most important part of a fable is the lesson learned
through reading the story. Fables teach readers the difference
between right and wrong and often give advice on culturally
appropriate expectations on etiquette and behavior.

 Fables can also be summed up by their moral message. For example,

think of the phrase “slow and steady wins the race”. This phrase
originates from the fable of The Tortoise and The Hare. In the fable,
the two animals have agreed to run against one another in a race. At
the starting line, the hare brags about being so much faster than the
tortoise. During the race, the hare sprints and then takes several long
breaks, wasting time and allowing the tortoise to advance steadily
and win the race in the end.

6)Ballads:
 A special tradition of tales told in song has arisen in Europe since
the Middle Ages and has been carried to wherever Europeans have
settled. These ballads, in characteristic local metrical forms and
frequently with archaic musical modes, are usually concerned with
domestic or warlike conflict, with disasters by land or sea, with
crime and punishment, with heroes and outlaws, and sometimes,
though rarely, with humour. Despite a folk culture fast being
overwhelmed by the modern world, these ballads are still sung and
enjoyed

7) Religious Stories:
 In religious studies and folkloristics, folk religion, popular
religion, or vernacular religion comprises various forms and
expressions of religion that are distinct from the official doctrines
and practices of organized religion. The precise definition of folk
 religion varies among scholars. Sometimes also termed popular
belief, it consists of ethnic or regional religious customs under the
umbrella of a religion, but outside official doctrine and practices.[1]
The term "folk religion" is generally held to encompass two related
but separate subjects. The first is the religious dimension of folk
culture, or the folk-cultural dimensions of religion. The second
refers to the study of syncretisms between two cultures with
different stages of formal expression, such as the melange of African
folk beliefs and Roman Catholicism that led to the development of
Vodun and Santería, and similar mixtures of formal religions with
folk cultures. Chinese folk religion, folk Christianity, folk
Hinduism, and folk Islam are examples of folk religion associated
with major religions. The term is also used, especially by the clergy
of the faiths involved, to describe the desire of people who otherwise
infrequently attend religious worship, do not belong to a church or
similar religious society, and who have not made a formal
profession of faith in a particular creed, to have religious weddings
or funerals, or (among Christians) to have their children baptized

8) Epics
 The word epic is derived from the Ancient Greek adjective,
“epikos”, which means a poetic story. In literature, an epic is a long
narrative poem, which is usually related to heroic deeds of a person
of an unusual courage and unparalleled bravery. In order to depict
this bravery and courage, the epic uses grandiose style. The hero is
usually the representative of the values of a certain culture, race,
nation or a religious group on whose victor of failure the destiny of
the whole nation or group depends. Therefore, certain supernatural
forces, deus ex machina, help the hero, who comes out victor at the
end. An epic usually starts with an invocation to muse, but then
picks up the threads of the story from the middle and moves on to
the end. Eg: “Paradise Lost” by John Milton.
 Examples of Folklore in Literature:

Example #1: Rudyard Kipling Rudyard Kipling was keenly

interested in folklore, as he has written many English works based
on folklore such as, Rewards and Fairies and Puck of Pook’s Hill.
His experiences in Indian environment have led him to create
several works about Indian themes and tradition. Since Kipling has
lived a great deal of life in Indian regions, he was much familiar
with the Indian languages. Kipling’s popular work, The Jungle
Book, consists of plenty of stories about traditional folktales. He
also has Indian themes in his work, Just So Stories, in which he has
given many characters recognizable names related to Indian
languages. Helen Bannerman has also penned an Indian themed
folktale, Little Black Sambo, during the same period
.
Example #2: Patrick Henry Patrick Henry was a politician, attorney
and planter, who gained popularity as an orator when Americans
were struggling for independence. He is well known for his speech
in the House of Burgesses in 1775 in the church of Saint Joseph. The
House was undecided about whether they need to mobilize and take
military action against encroaching military forces of England.
Henry gave his arguments in favor of American forces’
mobilization. After forty-two years, William Wirt, Henry’s first
biographer, working from different oral histories and stories,
reconstructed the sayings of Henry, outlining the folk traditions he
inherited and passed on.

Example #3: A. K. Ramanujan A. K. Ramanujan has written a lot

about context sensitivity as a theme in many cultural essays,
classical poetry, and Indian folklore. For example, in his works
Three Hundred Ramayanas, and Where Mirrors are Windows, he
talks about intertextual quality of written and oral Indian literature.
His popular essay, Where Mirrors Are Windows: Toward an
Anthology of Reflections, and commentaries done on Indian
folktales, including Oral Tales from Twenty Indian Languages, and
The Interior Landscape: Love Poems from a Classical Tamil
Anthology, present perfect examples of Indian folk literature
studies.

Example #4: Alan Garner Alan Garner is a renowned English

novelist popular for writing fantasy tales and retellings of traditional
English folk tales. His works are mainly rooted in history, landscape,
and folklore of his native country Cheshire. One of such children’s
novels is, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen: A Tale of Alderley, which
took a local legend from The Wizard of the Edge, and described
landscapes and folklore of neighboring Alderley Edge, where Alan
had grown up. The novel is set in Alderley Edge in Cheshire and
Macclesfield. This is a very good example of the use of folktales in
literature.
 Capter-3
Function of Folklore
The main purpose of folklore is to convey a moral lesson and present
useful information and everyday life lessons in an easy way for the
common people to understand. Folk tales sugarcoat the lessons of
hard life in order to give the audience pointers about how they
should behave. It is one of the best mediums to pass on living culture
or traditions to future generations. Currently, many forms of folk
literature have been transformed into books and manuscripts, which
we see in the forms of novels, histories, dramas, stories, lyric poems,
and sermons. Folk literature is, however, not merely a carrier of
cultural values; rather, it is also an expression of self-reflection. It
serves as a platform to hold high moral ground without any
relevance to present day reality. Instead, writers use it as a
commentary or satire on current political and social reality. In the
modern academic world, folklores and folktales are studied to
understand ancient literature and civilizations.
 Folklore Genres
Folklorists -- those who study folklore -- classify the subject
according to various genres, or categories. The broadest categories
are oral, material and belief.

1. Oral: One of the most popular folklore genres, oral folklore

encompasses song, dance and all forms of "verbal art," including
poetry, jokes, riddles, proverbs, fairy tales, myths and legends. Of
course, many of these "verbal" art forms now exist in written
form (e.g., fairy tales). But in the beginning, they were passed on
orally. That's why many of them contain devices to help people
remember them. One such device is repetition. Think of the story
of the "Three Little Pigs," where the pigs keep building houses,
which the wolf keeps saying, "I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow
your house down." Folk tales also contain formulaic expressions
to aid memory, such as "Once upon a time" and "They lived
happily ever after."

2. Material: Objects you can touch are included in the material

folklore classification. So this means personal items such as
home decorations, special clothing and jewelry. But it also
encompasses traditional family recipes, foods and musical
instruments -- e.g., the Sioux's chegah-skah-hdah, a type of rattle,
and the bodhrán, an Irish frame drum. Vernacular artwork,
textiles and architecture (using local materials and serving local
needs) are also included in material folklore. Examples include
the 1920s shotgun houses popular in the American South and the
raised horreros, or granaries, found in Galicia, Spain.

3. Belief: While this points to religion, belief also covers rituals

such as tossing rice at a bride and groom to wish them good luck,
and the Jewish tradition of giving bread, sugar and salt as a
housewarming gift. Some folklorists classify this genre as
behavioral or cogitative, and include the way folklore beliefs
affect your thought process and behavior. Here's an example: A
young driver rear-ends you, and you're about to tell her off. Then
you remember the golden rule – "Do unto others as you would
have them do unto you" -- and instead you calmly accept her
apology. That's behavioral folklore in action.

Folk Idioms, Sayings, Proverbs and Vocabulary:

Common sayings seem to be the grass roots of our American
culture. If your parents had nothing to say, they always seemed to
resort to some previously spoken phrase their parents said to
them, didn't they? But, to claim that these are really "American"
sayings is false. Our nation is a melting pot of many cultures, so
the sayings listed below represent years of generations handing
them down one to another (mostly orally) with their own cultural
spin. Many were told to help educate and pass wisdom down from
young to old. Their motive was to teach you a message of
behavior or to give you philosophical wisdom. Some come from
the bible, although are not actually word for word. Why? Because
many people did not read or write. But their preacher came
around and told them the bible. So they remembered the bible "as
they interpreted the message" and passed it down that way.
Proverbs and sayings are usually short and sweet or short and
tangy. They have been defined as the wisdom of many and the
wit of one. Although proverbs, sayings and maxim may be highly
believed, they ironically often contradict each other. I found this
true pertaining to marriage and wives as I read through them.
Another example is about being to hasty. One says "He who
hesitates is lost" and yet another advises, "Look before you leap."
The first one says to wisely NOT stop and wait before you
venture forth while the other one tells us the opposite and warns
us to stop and wait before we start a venture. List of proverbs and
sayings: A clean conscience makes a soft pillow. A good deed is
never lost. A smile is worth a thousand words A clock will run
without watching it. A man is judged by the company he keeps.
A good neighbor, a found treasure! A friend to everyone is a
friend to nobody.
 Chapter- 4
CURRENT TRENDS IN FOLK
LITERATURE

Folk literature is a part and parcel of the language and culture of any
society. Folk literature, also called folklore or oral tradition, is the
lore (traditional knowledge and beliefs) of cultures having no
written language. It is transmitted by word ofmollth and consists, as
does written literature, of both prose and verse narratives, poems and
songs, myths, dramas, rituals, proverbs, riddles, and the like. Nearly
all known peoples, now or in the past, have produced it.

Folk literature is studied for its intrinsic merit and for enjoyment,
more as an independent literary genre, but using these materials as
an integral part of our educational and socialization process is
conspicuous by its absence. The stories that are included in
elementary school textbooks years ago continue to be repeated, even
with newer discoveries of folklore materials. These may be used to
imbibe values, style of language, and many other important
lemming items in the minds of learners. India is a country with a
tremendous cultural diversity. Each culture has its own knowledge
system. Since Independence, collection, preservation, analysis, and
study of folk literature have received a lot of attention in all the
major languages of India.

However, use of materials from folk literature for purposes of

instruction at various levels of education is rather minimal. The three
models of education, non-formal, formal, and informal that go from
teaching literacy to literature and other subjects, can make use of
folk literature as a powerful educational tool. This paper focuses on
the system of knowledge construction embedded into its socio-
cultural context. Here is an attempt to recognize the pedagogical
potential folk literature offers for creative language curriculum,
rhetoric, history, socialization, civics, and related subjects. As per
the Encyclopedia Britannica, "Of the origins of folk literature, as of
the origins of human language, there is no way of knowing. None of
the literature available today is primitive in any sense, and only the
present-day results can be observed of practices extending over
many thousands of years. Speculations therefore can only concern
such human needs as may give rise to oral literature, not to its
ultimate origin." Need and Relevance.

Folk literature includes all the myths, legends, epics, fables, and
folktales passed down by word of mouth through the generations.
The authors of traditional literature are usually unknown or
unidentifiable. . These stories have endured because they are
entertaining, they embody the culture's belief system, and they
contain fundamental human truths by which people have lived for
centuries. Knowing the characters and situations of folk literature is
part of being culturally literate. . Folk literature, regardless of its
place of origin, seems clearly to have arisen to meet a variety of
human needs:
1. The need to explain the mysteries of the natural world.
2. The need to articulate oul fears and dreams
3. The need to impose order on the apparent random, even chaotic,
nature of life.

4.The need to entertain ourselves and each other . Their brevity,

action, easily understandable characters, recurring features, fantastic
elements, and happy endings particularly appeal to children between
the ages of three and eight. Folk literature can help children begin to
develop a sense of morality. It helps children to sort out good and
evil in the world arid to identify with the good. The beginnings of
written literature in Sumer and Egypt 5,000 or 6,000 years ago took.
place in a world that knew only folk literature. During the millennia,
written literature has been surrounded and sometimes all but
overwhelmed by the humbler activity of the unlettered. All societies
have produced some men and women of great natural
endowmentsshamans, priests, rulers, and warriors--and from then1
bave come the greatest stinlulus toward producing and listening to
myths, tales. and songs. To these the common man has listened
to'such effect that sometimes he himself has become a bard. Not
everywhere has the oral literature impinged so directly on the
written as in the works of Hdmer, which almost presents a transition
from the prelitet'ate to the literate world. But many folktales have
found their place in literature. The medieval romances, especially
the Breton lays, drew freely on these folk sources, sometimes
directly.

As the Middle Ages lead into the Renaissance, the influence of folk
literature on the work of writers increases in importance, so that it is
sometimes difficult to draw a sharp line of distinction between them.
In literary forms such as the fabliau, many anecdotes may have come
ultimately from tales current among unlettered storytellers, but these
have usually been reworked by writers, some of them belonging in
the main stream of literature, like Boccaccio or Chaucer. Only later,
in the 16th and 1 7th centuries, in such works as those of
Gianfrancesco - Straparola and Giambattista - Basile, did writers go
directly to folk literature itself for much of their material. Indian
Context: India occupies a specific place in the history of World Folk
lore. 'The rharvelous tales from the Indian sub-cuntinent have
contributed in shaping the theoretical growth of folkloristic itself.
For example, Max Muller's works on Indian Myths and Theodore
Re~lfL's translation of the world famous 'Pnchtantra' gave rise to the
theory of Indian origin of the fairy tale. 'The vast narrative material
existing it$ the sub continent has the unique fortune of possessing
the oldest narrative traditions in the world. Besides the 'Rigveda', the
Rarnayana, the Mahabharat, the Puranas and the Upnishads, have all
claims on being called an encyclopedia of Indian religion and
mythology. Narayan pandit'd ' I-Iitopadesha', Gunadhya's
'Brihatkatha', Somdeva's 'Kathasaritsagar', Sihdasa's 'Vetal
Pnchavimashti', and other works such as 'Sukhasaptadi', 'Jatakas' are
the best examples. Historical Perspectives: From the linguistic point
of view, the Indian subcontinent has a very rich cultural diversity.
All the four major languages (IndoEuropean, Dravidian, Tibeto-
Burman and AustroAsiatic) are spoken here.

This linguistic diversity is reflected in cultural diversity of equal

magnitude. Alexander's (327 B.C.) invasion resulted in the
establishment of the first Indian Empire under great kings like
Chandragupta Maurya and Ashoka. In medieval Indian literature the
earliest works in many of the languages were sectarian, designed to
advance or to celebrate some unorthodox regional belief. Examples
are the Caryapadas in Bengali, Tantric verses of the 12th century,
and theLilacaritra (circa 1280), in Marathi. li~ Kannada (Kanarese)
from the 10th century, and later in Gujarati from the 13th century,
the first truly indigenous works are Jain romances; ostensibly the
lives of Jain saints, these are actually popular tales based on Sanskrit
and Pali themes. Another example is from Rajasthan, which
addresses the bardic tales of chivalry and heroic resistance to the
first Muslim invasions - such as the 12th-century epic poem
Prithiraja-raso by Chand Bardai of Lahore. Most important of all,
for later Indian literature, were the first traces in the vernacular
languages of the northern Indian cults of Krishna and of Knma.
Included are the 12th-century poems by Jaydev, called the
Gitugovinda (The Cowherd's Song); and about 1400, a group of
religious love poems written in Maithili (eastern Hindi of Bihar) by
the poet Vidyapati were a seminal influence on the cult of Radha-
Krishna in Bengal. The Bhakti Tradition The full flowering of the
Radha-Krishna cult, under the Hindu mystics Chaitanya in Bengal
and Vallabhacharya at Mathura, involved bhakti (a personal
devotion to a god).

The earlier traces of this attitude are found in the work of the Tamil
Alvars (mystics who wrote ecstatic hymns to Vishnu between the
7th and 10th centuries). At a later surge of bhakti flooded every
channel of Indian intellectual and religious life. Bhakti was also
addressed to Rama (an avatar of Vishnu), most notably in the Avadhi
(eastern Hindi) works of Tulsi Das; his Ramcharitmanas (Lake of
the Acts of Rarna, 1574-77; trans. 1952) has become the
adthoritative. The early gurus or founders of the Sikh religion,
especially Nanak and Arjun, composed bhakti hymns to their
concepts of deity. These are the first written doouments in Punjabi
(Panjabi) and form part of the Adi Granth (First, or Original, Book),
the sacred scripture of the Sikhs, which was first compiled by Arjun
in 1604. In the 16th century, the Rajaasthani princess and poet Mira
Bai addressed her bhakti lyric verse to Krishna, as did the Gujarati
poet Narsimh Mehta. Heroes, Villains and in between: Indian folk
heroes in Sanskrit epics and history and also in freedom movement
are well known to every one. They have found a place in written
literature. But in Indian cultural sub-system, Indian folk heroes are
most popular. The castes and tribes of India have maintained their
diversities of culture through their language and religion and
customs. So, in addition to national heroes, regional heroes and local
folk and tribal heroes are alive in the collective memory of the
people. If, for example we consider the Santals or the Gonds, we
find that the Santals have their culture hero "Beer kherwal" and
"Bidu Chandan", Gonds have their folk hero "Chital Singh Chatri".
Banjara folk hero is "Lakha Banjara" or "Raja Isalu". But not only
heroes, the heroines of Indian folklore have also significant
contribution in shaping the culture of India. Banjara epics are
heroine-centric. These epics reflect the "sati" cult. Oral epics with
heroic actions of heroes and heroines produce a "counter texts" as
opposed to the written texts.

The younger brother killing his elder brother and becoming a hero
is part of an in an oral epic, which is forbidden in classical epics.
Folk heroes are some times deified and are worshipped in the
village. There is a thin line of difference between a mythic hero and
romantic hero in Indian folklore. In Kalahandi, oral epics are
available among the ethnic singers performed in ritual context and
social context. Dr Mahendra Mishra, a folklorist has conducted
research on oral epics in kalahandi taking seven ethnic groups. Dr.
Chitrasen Pasayat has made an extensive study of different folk and
tribal forms of Yatra like Dhanu yatra, Kandhen-budhi yatra,
Chudakhai yatra, Sulia yatra, Patkhanda yatra, Budha-dangar yatra,
Khandabasa yatra, Chhatar yatra, Sital-sasthi yatra and examined
the 'hero characters' of the local deities. Indian oral epics are found
wherever there are caste based culture. Prof. Lauri Honko from
Turku, Finland with Prof. Vivek Rai and Dr K Chinnapa Gawda
have conducted extensive field work and research on Siri Epic and
have come out with three volumes on Siri Epic. Similarly Prof. Peter
J Claus has done intensive work on Tulu epics. Aditya Mallick on
Devnarayan Epic, Pulikondq Subbachary on jambupurana, Dr JD
Smith on Pabuji epic are some of the commendable work that have
been drawn attention of the wider readership.. The scientific study
of Indian folklore was slow to begin: early collectors felt far freer
tdcreatively re-interpret source material, and collected their material
with a view to the picturesque rather than the representative.

A. K. Ramanujan's theoretical and aesthetic contributions span

several disciplinary areas. Context-sensitivity is a theme that
appears not only in Ramanujan's cultural essays, but also appears
in his writing about Indian folklore and classic poetry. In "Where
Mirrors are Windows," (1989) and in "Three Hundred
Ramayanas" (1991), for example, he discusses the "intertextual"
nature of Indian literature, written and oral ... He says, "What is
merely suggested in one poem may become central in a
'repetition' or an 'imitation' of it. His essay "Where Mirrors Are
Windows: Toward an Anthology of Reflections" (1989), and his
commentaries in The Interior Landscape: Love Poems from a
Classical Tamil Anthology (1 967) and Folktales from India,
Oral Tales from Twenty Indian Languages (1 99 1) are good
examples of his work in Indian folklore studies. Rudyard
Kipling was interested in folklore, dealing with English folklore
in works such as Puck of Pookk Hill and Rewards and Fairies.
His experiences in India led him to also create similar works
with Indian themes. Kipling spent a great deal of his life in India,
and was familiar with the Hindi language. His works such as the
two JungZe Boob contain a great deal of stories that are written
after the manner of traditional folktales. Indian themes also
appear in his Just So Stories, and many of the characters bear
recognisable names from Indian languages. During the same
period, Helen Bannerman penned the now notorious
Indianthemed tale ofLittle Black Sarnbo, which represented
itself to be an Indian folktale. Post Independence, disciplines and
methods fiom anthropology began to be used in the creation of
more in- depth surveys of Indian folklore. Folklorists of India
can be broadly divided into three phases. Phase I were the British
Administrators who collected the local knowledge and folklore
to understand the subjects they want to rule. Next (phase II),were
the missionaries who wanted to acquire the language of the
people to recreate their religious literature for evangelical
purposes. The third phase was the post independent period in the
country where many universities, institutes and individuals
started studying folklore. Tho purpose was to search for a
national identity through legends, myths, and epics. In course of
time; academic institutions and universities ih the country
started opening departments on folklore in their respective
regions, more in south India to maintain their cultural identity
and also maintain language and culture. Scholars like Dr
Satyendra, Devendra Satyarthi, Krishnadev Upadhayaya,
Jhaberchand Meghani, Prafilla Dutta Goswami, Ashutosh
Bhattacharya, Kunj a Bihari Dash, Chitrasen Pasayat, Sornnath
Dhar, Ramgarib Choube, Jagadish Chandra Trigunayan and
many more were the pioneer in working on folklore. Of course,
the trend was more literary than analytical. It was during 1980s
that the central Institute of Indian Languages and the American
Institute of Indian Studies started their systemic study on
Folklore any after that many western as well as eastern scholars
pursued their studies on folklore as a discipline.
The pioneer of the folklorists in contemporary Jndia are
Jawaharlal Handoo, Chitr~sen Pasay at, Sadhana Naithani,Ki
shore Bhattacharj ee, Anjali Padhi, Kailash Patnaik, VA Vivek
Rai,lnte Komal Kothari, Raghavan Payanad, M Ramakrishnan,
Nandini Sahu and many more. A trend has emerged of new
folklorists, who are committed to understand folklore fiom an
Indian point of view than to see the whole subjects from the
western model. Some of them prefer to understand folklore from
the folklore provider and consultants who are the creator and
consumers of folklore. User of folklore, know what folklore is,
since their use folklore with purpose and meaning. But
theoreticians see folklore from their theoretical angle. From an
ethical point of view, folklorist should learn fiom the folk to be
as practicable as possible and folk should give the hidden
meaning of folklore to the folklorists, so that both of their
interpretations can help give a new meaning to folklore and
explore the possibility of use of folklore in new socio-cultural
domain. National Folklore Support Center, Chennai (since the
last decade) has created a space for the new scholars who are
pursuing the study of folklore.. One important breakthrough in
the field of folklore is that it is no more confined to the study in
the four wall of academic domain; rather, it has again found its
space within and among the folk to get their true meaning.
Major Folklorist Of The
World
 Chapter-5
Materials and Methods
Folklore is a kind of verbal art. However, folklore is not only the art
of the word, but also an integral part of folk life, closely intertwined
with its other elements, and this is the essential difference between
folklore and literature. But, how the art of the word folklore differs
from literature? These differences do not remain unshakable at
various stages of historical development, and yet the main, stable
features of each of the types of verbal art can be noted. Folklore is a
collective art. In folklore, tradition comes to the fore. The work of
folklore is reproduced orally and stored in the memory of the people.
A work of folklore lives in a variety of variants; at each performance,
it is reproduced, as it were, anew, with direct contact between the
performer-improviser and the audience, which not only directly
influences the performer, but sometimes also connects to the
performance itself. The role of folklore, as folk art in the
development of pedagogical science, was highly appreciated by
well-known teachers. In recent years, the number of studies of
folklore materials, oral folk art has significantly expanded. The term
“folklore”, which in 1846 was introduced into science by the
English scientist W. J. Tome, in translation means “folk to man is
the science of how to do less evil and do more good”. Folklore
(especially if we turn to the past) is not just one of the many
phenomena of folk life; folklore was permeated, literally saturated
with the entire folk life in all its manifestations. Folk experience and
folk knowledge, folk ideas about the past of clans, tribes (later
peoples) and the past of the land on which they lived or live were
poured into folklore forms. Folklore was, as V.Ya. Propp, "an
integrating part of the rites", moreover, the most diverse rites - both
industrial (hunting, fishing, cattle breeding, agricultural), and family
and tribal (maternity, wedding, funeral). In the most ancient
syncretic forms of folklore, researchers see the beginnings of what
later become science, literature, and religion in the system of
developed and differentiated cultures. In later times, folklore was
the most important form of folk ideology, folk entertainment, the
most important means of educating young students, the most
important sphere of human artistic activity, and a very significant
part of national culture. Folklore is not only an essential element of
folk life, it sometimes contains precious evidence of the social
system, public institutions, beliefs, social psychology and material
culture of past eras, not recorded in sources of a different kind -
written documents or archaeological sites. Indeed, the oral folk art
of every nation, including the Russian people, is very rich and
multifaceted. Since ancient times, our ancestors had a school of
human education - the school of the word. For younger generations,
i.e. youth, verbal and educating through the artistic world of fairy
tales, legends, proverbs, beautiful songs, impressive in their volume,
artistic depth, were an excellent school of education. Thus, folklore
is an artistic skill in the upbringing of a person, and it is the most
influential and necessary. The basis of the artistic word was formed
over the centuries by oral folk art and literature. When studying folk
art, one should always bear in mind that the people is not a
homogeneous concept and is historically changeable. The history of
folklore is at the same time a process of constant growth in the
selfconsciousness of the people, and overcoming that in which its
prejudices were expressed. According to the nature of the
connection with the folk life, ritual and non-ritual folklore are
distinguished. Folklore performers themselves adhere to a different
classification. It is essential for them that some works are sung,
others are felt. Philologists classify all works of folklore into one of
three categories - epic, lyric or drama, as is customary in literary
criticism. Some folklore genres are interconnected by a common
sphere of existence. A special section of folk poetry is children's
folklore - play (drawing lots, counting environment. In this regard,
it is important to preserve the national culture and identity of the
people. However, due to the close contact between different
countries, it is also important to study the folklore of other peoples,
in our case, these are the Russian and Uzbek peoples. The success
of identifying the cultural connotations of the words of the native
language perhaps with a good knowledge of the native culture.
Therefore, an important link in the educational process is
familiarization with the realities of the country, the presentation of
Uzbek and Russian culturalconnotative, background vocabulary, the
explanation of its symbolic and emotional range. This requires a
well-thought-out system of assimilation of words and expressions,
denoting the names of objects and phenomena of the traditional life
of the people, their life; images of national folklore, as well as the
disclosure of the semantics of the word. In addition, the
interpretation of folklore texts is not conceivable without their
cultural commentary. Science has accumulated a lot of experience
in methodologically correct work with folklore material to study the
early stages of human history. Academician B.A. Rybakov,
characterizing the cardinal problems of the most ancient past of
mankind, called the problems of the primitive worldview and the
chronological depth of folklore. Recognizing that folklore is of great
importance for the study of the Russian language in the university
audience, at the same time we must not forget the most important
thing: the degree of reliability of the historical realities cited in
folklore works is quite different. The plots of the works of folklore
that exist at the present time, when compared with the remnants, are
widely, even, let's say, too widely, used to analyze socio-economic
relations. Theoretically, according to folklore, the restored life of an
ancient person is recognized by some scientists (M. O. Kosven, Yu.
I. Semenov etc.) as quite real, existing in the past.
Folklore wisdom”. Unlike many Western European scientists, who
refer to folklore the most diverse aspects of folk life (up to culinary
recipes), including here also elements of material culture (housing,
clothing), scientists and their like-minded people in other countries
consider oral folk art - poetic works created by the people and
existing among the broad masses of the people, along with musical
and dance folklore. This approach takes into account the artistic
nature of folklore as the art of the word. Folklore is the study of
folklore. The history of folklore goes into the deep past of mankind.
Indeed, folklore arose in the process of labor, has always expressed
the views and interests mainly of working people, it manifested in
various forms the desire of a person to facilitate his work, to make
it joyful and free. As a person accumulates more and more
significant life experience that had to be passed on to the next
generations, the role of verbal information increased: after all, it was
the word that could most successfully communicate not only what
is happening here and now, but also what happened or will happen
somewhere and sometime or someday.
 Conclusion
So, folklore is both an everyday and artistic phenomenon, therefore
folklore, while remaining independent, must at the same time be
both a philological and ethnographic science, and every folklore fact
that is used by a folklorist, historian or ethnographer must be
correctly assessed in its aesthetic quality, as an element of a certain
artistic structure. On the other hand, every fact found in a folklore
text that is of interest to a student must be evaluated from its
textological side, that is, one must always keep in mind the law of
variation of a folklore text. Thus, folklore is indeed a very important
ethnographic source that preserves valuable information about the
material and spiritual culture of peoples, their social organization,
which, in our opinion, should be actively used in Indian language
classes at a university.
 References

 The Literature beyond Legends, Tales and Myths, Independently

published; Amazon (Sep 2017)

 Comparative Study of Northeastern Folklore and Modern Literary

Works, Notion Press;(Aug 2020)

 Indian Folk Literature in English Translation, Gullybaba Publishing

House Pvt. Ltd.; (Jan 2020)

 Orality and Folk Literature in the Age of Print Culture, Scientific

Book Centre; (Jan 2015.
 Boswell, George W. and J. Russel Reaver. Fundamentals of Folk
Literature. New York:
 Humanities Press, Inc., 1969. Print.
 Burne, Charlotte Sophia. The Handbook of Folklore: Traditional
Beliefs, Practices,
 Customs, Stories and Saying. London: The Guernsey Press, Co.
Ltd., n.d. Print.
 Carter, Angela (Ed). Strange Things Still Happen : Fairy Tales from
Around the World.
 Boston:Faber&Faber. 1993. Print.
 Clement, Clara Erskine. 1994. Legendary and Mythological Art.
London: Bracken Books. Print.
 Dundes, Alan. 1965. The Study of Folklore. New Jersey: Prentice-
Hall, Inc.. Print.
 Edmonton, Munro S. 1971. Lore: An Introduction to the Science of
Folklore and
 Literature. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winstoin, Inc.. Print.
 Eugenio, Damiana.L. 1982 (2007). Philippine Folk Literature: An
Anthology. 2nd ed.
 Quezon City: UP Press.
 Eugenio, Damiana.L. 1982 (2007). Philippine Folk Literature: The
Epics. 2001. Quezon
 City: UP Press.
 Knappert, Jan. An Encyclopedia of Myth and Legend: Pacific
Mythology. Northampton,
 England: The Aquarian Press, 1992. Print.
 Kramer, Samuel Noah, (Ed). 1961. Mythologies of the Ancient
World of the Ancient
 World. New York: Anchor Books. Print.
 Lopez, Mellie Leandicho. 2006. A Handbook of Philippine Folklore.
Quezon City: UP Press.
 UGC Elegibility Test Folk Literature Syllabus June 2011 (Win
Entrance.Com)
 Utely, Francis Lee. "A Definition of Folklore," American Folklore,
Voice of America
 Forum Lectures, ed. Tristram Coffin, III 1968, p14.
 Eugenio, Damiana (2007). Philippine Folk Literature: An
Anthology, 2nd, Quezon City:
 University of the Philippines Press, 498. ISBN 978-971-542-536-0.
 Parker, Vrndavan. "Indian Origins of Filipino Customs".
 Parker, Vrndavan. "Indian Origins of Filipino Cuswtoms".
 Filipino Creatures of the Night