The target of this paper is to analyze the structural and rhetorical principles that seem to
be emblematic of extempore composition in all three of these rhymed forms of oral poetry.1 The
analysis focuses on the methods that improvisers employ in the construction of end rhyme
patterns and in structuring the semantic hierarchy of verse units in the spontaneous composition
of verses in these traditions.Venla Sykari is a researcher affiliated with Folklore Studies at the University of Helsinki where
she specializes in studying short, rhymed, and argumentative forms of oral poetry and
contemporary traditions. Her Ph.D. dissertation focused on Cretan rhyming couplets, and in a
postdoctoral project she continued the study of European oral poetry and meters, particularly the
improvised composition of poetry with end rhyme. Her current research interests include the
study of improvised rap and the social processes of learning, practicing, and transmitting
knowledge and skills in oral composition and performance
