sentences:  Products of "the highly polarized, agonistic, oral world of good and evil, virtue and vice, villains and heroes," the great works of oral literature from Homer to Beowulf, from the Mwindo epic to the Old Testament, are extremely violent by modern standards.They are also punctuated by frequent and intense intellectual combat and tongue-lashings on the one hand, and effusive praise (perhaps reaching its height among African praise singers) on the other.In an oral culture the most reliable and trusted technique for learning is to share a "close, empathetic, communal association" with others who know.