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Episode 37: Seafarers, Poets and Traveling Minstrels

The History of English Podcast

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The Performative Nature of Germanic Poets

This chapter explores the concept of Germanic poets as performers rather than writers, improvising their poems like jazz musicians. It also delves into the use of lyres and harps in ancient civilizations and how they influenced the development of English words. Additionally, the chapter discusses the association between storytelling and yarn, and how poems were used as mnemonic devices in oral traditions.

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