When speaking without notes, was MLK swept up in oral formulaic, like Homer and the Beowulf poet? (See Lord & Perry, The Singer of Tales.) Paywalled critic Johanesson 10 years ago said. “Within the African‐American oral culture and folk‐preaching traditions, where language and ideas are viewed as communal resources to be shared and adapted, Martin Luther King's oratorical plagiarism may be seen as natural….”