Connecting the theory of tradition with the phenomenon of influence, Michael Drout moves beyond current theories and extends his own work from How Tradition Works. This forward-looking study introduces a new methodology - lexomics, the use of computer-aided statistical analysis to identify influence - and integrates research from cognitive psychology and evolutionary biology with traditional, philological approaches to literature, specifically the Anglo-Saxon poems of second codicological booklet of the Exeter Book. An example of hard interdisciplinarity, Tradition and Influence contributes to Anglo-Saxon studies, oral tradition, evolutionary epistemology, and cultural theory.

This book introduces lexomics, the use of computer-aided statistical analysis of vocabulary, to measure influence and integrate research from cognitive psychology and evolutionary biology with traditional, philological approaches to literature. Connecting the theory of tradition with the phenomenon of influence, Drout moves beyond current theories.