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BALLADS
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BALLADS . The word " ballad " is derived from the O. Fr. bailer, to See also:dance, and originally meant a See also:song sung to the rhythmic See also:movement of a dancing See also:chorus. Later, the word, in the See also:form of See also:ballade (q.v.), became the technical See also:term for a particular form of old-fashioned See also:French See also:poetry, remarkable for its involved and
recurring rhymes. " Laisse moi aux Jeux Floraux de See also:Toulouse toutes See also:ces vieux poesies Francoises comme ballades," says See also:Joachim du Bellay in 1550; and Philaminte, the See also:lady See also:pedant of See also:Moliere's Femmes Savantes, observes
" La ballade, a mon goflt, est une See also:chose fade,
Ce n'en est plus la mode, elle sent son vieux temps."
In See also:England the term has usually been applied to any See also:simple See also:tale told in simple See also:verse, though attempts have been made to confine it to the subject of this See also:article, namely, the See also:literary form of popular songs, the folk-tunes associated with them being treated in the article SONG. By popular songs we understand what the Germans See also:call Volkslieder, that is, songs with words composed by members of the See also:people, for the people, handed down• by oral tradition, and in See also:style, See also:taste and even incident, See also:common to the people in all See also:European countries. The beauty of these purely popular ballads, their directness and freshness, has made them admired even by the artificial critics of the most artificial periods in literature. Thus See also:Sir See also: It was fortunate, perhaps, for poetry, though unlucky for the scientific study of the ballads, that they were mainly regarded from the literary point of view. The See also:influence of their artless See also:melody and straightforward diction may be See also:felt in the lyrics of Goethe and of See also:Coleridge, of Words-See also:worth, of See also:Heine and of See also:Andre Chenier. Chenier, in the most affected See also:age even of French poetry, translated some of the Romaic ballads; one, as it chanced, being almost identical with that which See also:Shakespeare borrowed from some English reciter, and put into the mouth of the mad Ophelia. The beauty of the ballads and the See also:interest they excited led to numerous forgeries and modern interpolations, which it is seldom difficult to detect with certainty. Editors could not resist the temptation to interpolate, to restore, and to improve the fragments that came in their way. The See also:marquis de la Villemarque, who first See also:drew See also:attention to the ballads of See also:Brittany, is not wholly See also:free from this See also:fault. Thus a very See also:general See also:scepticism was awakened, and when questions came to be asked as to the date and authorship of the Scottish traditional ballads, it is scarcely to be wondered at that Dr See also:Chambers attributed most of them to the accomplished Lady See also:Wardlaw, who lived in the middle of the 18th century. The vexed and dull controversy as to the origin of Scottish folk-songs was due to See also:ignorance of the See also:comparative method, and of the ballad literature of See also:Europe in general. The result of the discussion was to leave a vague impression that the Scottish ballads were perhaps as old as the time of See also:Dunbar, and were the See also:production of a class of professional minstrels. These minstrels are a stumbling-See also:block in the way of the student of the growth of ballads. The domestic See also:annals of See also:Scotland show that her See also:kings used to keep See also:court-bards, and also that strollers, jongleurs, as they were called, went about singing at the doors of See also:farm-houses and in the streets of towns. Here were two sets of minstrels who had apparently See also:left no poetry; and, on the other See also:side, there was a number of ballads that claimed no author. It was the easiest and most satisfactory inference that the courtly minstrels made the verses, which the wandering crowders265 imitated or corrupted. But this theory fails to See also:account, among other things, for the universal sameness of See also:tone, of incident, of See also:legend, of See also:primitive poetical formulae, which the Scottish ballad possesses, in common with the ballads of Greece, of See also:France, of See also:Provence, of See also:Portugal, of See also:Denmark and of See also:Italy. The See also:object, therefore, of this article is to prove that what has See also:long been acknowledged of nursery tales, of what the Germans call Marchen, namely, that they are the immemorial See also:inheritance at least of all European peoples, is true also of some ballads. Their See also:present form, of course, is relatively See also:recent: in centuries of oral recitation the See also:language altered automatically, but the stock situations and ideas of many romantic ballads are of dateless age and See also:world-wide See also:diffusion. The See also:main incidents and plots of the See also:fairy tales of Celts and Germans and See also:Slavonic and See also:Indian peoples, their unknown antiquity and mysterious origin, are universally recognized. No one any longer attributes them to this or that author, or to this or that date. The See also:attempt to find date or author for a genuine popular song is as futile as a similar See also:search in the See also:case of a Marchen. It is to be asked, then, whether what is confessedly true of folk-tales,— of such stories as the Sleeping Beauty and See also:Cinderella,—is true also of folk-songs. Are they, or have they been, as universally sung as the fairy tales have been narrated? Do they, too, See also:bear traces of the survival of primitive See also:creeds and primitive forms of consciousness and of See also:imagination? Are they, like Marchen, for the most See also:part, little influenced by the higher religions, See also:Christian or polytheistic? Do they turn, as Marchen do, on the same incidents, repeat the same stories, employ the same machinery of talking birds and beasts? Lastly, are any specimens of ballad literature capable of being traced back to extreme antiquity? It appears that all these questions may be answered in the affirmative; that the See also:great age and universal diffusion of the ballad may be proved; and that its See also:birth, from the lips and heart of the people, may be contrasted with the origin of an See also:artistic poetry in the demand of an See also:aristocracy for a See also:separate epic literature destined to be its own See also:possession, and to be the first development of a poetry of See also:personality, —a See also:record of individual passions and emotions. After bringing forward examples of the identity of features in European ballad poetry, we shall proceed to show that the earlier genre of ballads with refrain sprang from the same primitive See also:custom of dance, accompanied by improvised song, which still exists in Greece and See also:Russia, and even in valleys of the See also:Pyrenees. There can scarcely be a better See also:guide in the examination of the notes or marks of popular poetry than the instructions which M. See also:Ampere gave to the See also:committee appointed in 1852–1853 to search for the remains of ballads in France. M. Ampere bade the collectors look for the following characteristics:—" The use of assonance in See also:place of See also:rhyme, the brusque See also:character of the See also:recital, the textual repetition, as in See also:Homer, of the speeches of the persons, the See also:constant use of certain See also:numbers,—as three and seven,—and the See also:representation of the commonest See also:objects of every-See also:day See also:life as being made of See also:gold and See also:silver." M. Ampere might have added that French ballads would probably employ a " See also:bird chorus," the use of talking-birds as messengers; that they would repeat the plots current in other countries, and display the same non-Christian See also:idea of See also:death and of the future world (see " The Lyke-See also:wake See also:Dirge "), the same ghostly superstitions and stories of See also:metamorphosis, and the same belief in elves and fairies, as are found in the ballads of Greece, of Provence, of Brittany, Denmark and Scotland. We shall now examine these supposed common notes of all genuine popular song, supplying a few out of the many instances of curious identity. As to brusqueness of recital, and the use of assonance instead of rhyme, as well as the aid to memory given by reproducing speeches verbally, these are almost unavoidable in all simple poetry preserved by oral tradition. In the See also:matter of recur-See also:ring numbers, we have the eternal " Trois belles filles L'y en a'z une plus belle que le jour," who appear in old French ballads, as well as the " Three Sailors," whose adventures are related in the Lithuanian and Provencal originals of See also:Thackeray's Little Billee. Then there is " the See also:league, the league, the league, but barely three," of Scottish ballads; and the rpia 7rovXana, three See also:golden birds, which sing the prelude to See also:Greek folk-songs, and so on. A more curious See also:note of primitive poetry is the lavish and reckless use of gold and silver. H. F. Tozer, in his account of ballads in the See also:Highlands of See also:Turkey, remarks on this fact, and attributes it to Eastern influences. But the horses' shoes of silver, the knives of See also:fine gold, the talking " birds with gold on their wings," as in See also:Aristophanes, are common to all folk-song. Everything almost is gold in the See also:Kalewala (q.v.), a so-called epic formed by putting into juxtaposition all the popular songs of See also:Finland. Gold is used as freely in the ballads, real or See also:spurious, which M. Verkovitch has had collected in the wilds of See also:Mount Rhodope. The See also:Captain in the French song is as lavish in his treatment of his runaway See also:bride, " Son See also:arrant 1'habille, • Tout en or et argent "; and the rustic in a song from See also:Poitou talks of his faucille d'or, just as a variant of See also:Hugh of See also:Lincoln introduces gold chairs and tables. Again, when the See also:lover, in a ballad common to France and to Scotland, cuts the winding-See also:sheet from about his living bride—" it tira ses ciseaux d'or fin." If the horses of the Klephts in Romaic ballads are gold shod, the steed in Willie's Lady is no less splendidly accoutred, " Silver shod before, And gowden shod behind." Readers of Homer, and of the Chanson de See also:Roland, must have observed the same primitive luxury of gold in these See also:early epics, in Homer reflecting perhaps the radiance of the actual " golden See also:Mycenae." Next as to talking-birds. These are not so common as in Marchen, but still are very general, and cause no surprise to their human listeners. The omniscient See also:popinjay, who " up and spoke " in the Border minstrelsy, is of the same See also:family of birds as those that, according to Talvj, pervade Servian song; as the Tpia '7rouAaeia which introduce the See also:story in the Romaic ballads; as the See also:wise birds whose speech is still understood by exceptionally gifted Zulus; as the wicked See also:dove that whispers temptation in the sweet French folk-song; as the bird that came out of a See also:bush, on See also:water for to dine," in the Water o' Wearies Well. In the matter of identity of See also:plot and incident in the ballads of various lands, it is to be regretted that no such comparative tables exist as Von See also:Hahn tried, not very exhaustively, to make of the " story-roots " of Marchen. Such tables might be compiled from the learned notes and introductions of Prof. See also:Child to his English and Scottish Popular Ballads (1898). A common plot is the story of the faithful leman, whose See also:lord brings See also:home " a braw new bride," and who recovers his See also:affection at the See also:eleventh See also:hour. In Scotland this is the ballad of Lord See also: Fauriel's Romaic collection, tells how a dead See also:brother, wakened from his See also:sleep of death by the longing of love, See also:bore his living See also:sister on his See also:saddle-See also:bow, in one night, from See also:Bagdad to See also:Constantinople. In Scotland this is the story of Proud Lady See also:Margaret; in Germany it is the song which See also:Burger converted into Lenore; in Denmark it is Aage and Else; in Brittany the dead See also:foster-brother carries his sister to the See also:apple See also:close of the See also:Celtic See also:paradise (Barzaz Breiz). Only in Brittany do the sad-hearted people think of the land of death as an See also:island of See also:Avalon, with the eternal sunset lingering behind the flowering apple trees, and gleaming on the See also:fountain of forgetfulness. In Scotland the channering See also:worm doth chide even the souls that come from where, " beside the See also:gate of Paradise, the birk grows fair enough." The Romaic idea of the place of the dead, the See also:garden of See also:Charon, whence " neither in See also:spring or summer, nor when grapes are gleaned in autumn, can See also:warrior or See also:maiden See also:escape," is likewise pre-Christian. In Provencal and Danish folk-song, the cries of See also:children See also:ill-treated by a cruel step-mother awaken the departed mother, " 'Twas See also:cold at night and the bairnies grat, The mother below the mouls heard that." She reappears in her old home, and henceforth, " when See also:dogs howl in the night, the step-mother trembles, and is See also:kind to the children." To this identity of superstition we may add the less tangible fact of identity of tone. The ballads of Klephtic exploits in Greece match the Border songs of See also:Dick of the Cow and Kinmont Willie. The same simple delight of living animates the See also:short Greek Scolia and their counterparts in France. Everywhere in these happier climes, as in See also:southern Italy, there are snatches of popular verse that make but one song of rose trees, and apple blossom, and the See also:nightingale that sings for maidens loverless, I1 ne chante pas pour moi, J'en ai un, Dieu merci," says the See also:gay French refrain. It would not be difficult to multiply instances of resemblance between the different folk-songs of Europe; but enough has, perhaps, been said to support the position that some of them are popular and primitive in the same sense as Marchen. They are composed by peoples of an early See also:stage who find, in a natural improvisation, a natural utterance of modulated and rhythmic speech, the appropriate See also:relief of their emotions, in moments of high-wrought feeling or on See also:solemn occasions. " Poesie " (as See also:Puttenham well says in his See also:Art of English Poesie, 1588) " is more See also:ancient than the artificiall of the Greeks and Latines, and used of the See also:savage and uncivill, who were before all See also:science and civilitie. This is proved by certificate of merchants and travellers, who by See also:late navigations have surveyed the whole world, and discovered large countries, and See also:wild people See also:strange and savage, affirming that the See also:American, the Perusine, and the very Canniball do sing and also say their highest and holiest matters in certain riming versicles." In the same way See also:Aristotle, discoursing of the origin of poetry, says (Poet. c. iv.), e-yivv-7Oav T1IY 7rO117UfP EK TCWY afro ebtaaparoiv. M. de la Villemarque in Brittany, M. See also:Pitt-6 in Italy, Herr See also:Ulrich in Greece, have described the See also:process of improvisation, how it grows out of the custom of dancing in large bands and accompanying the figure of the dance with song. " If the people," says M. Pitre, " find out who is the composer of a See also:canzone, they will not sing it." Now in those lands where a blithe See also:peasant life still exists with its dances, like the kolos of Russia, we find ballads identical in many respects with those which have died out of oral tradition in these islands. It is natural to conclude that originally some of the See also:British ballads too were first improvised, and circulated in rustic dances. We learn from M. Bujeaud and M. de Puymaigre in France, that all ballads there have their See also:air or tune, and that every dance has its own words, for if a new dance comes in, perhaps a fashionable one from See also:Paris, words are fitted to it. Is there any trace of such an operatic, lyrical, dancing peasantry in austere Scotland ? We find it in Gawin See also:Douglas's account of
" Sic as we clepe wenches and damosels,
In.gersy greens, wandering by spring See also:wells,
Of bloomed branches, and See also:flowers See also: It may be supposed that legends on which the ballads are composed, being found as they are from the White See also:Sea to Cape Matapan, are part of the stock of primitive folk-See also:lore. Thus we have an immemorial antiquity for the legends, and for the lyrical choruses in which their musical rendering was improvised. We are still at a loss to discover the possibly mythological germs of the legends; but, at all events, some ballads may be claimed as distinctly popular, and, so to speak, impersonal in matter and in origin. It would be easy to show that survivals out of this stage of inartistic lyric poetry linger in the early epic poetry of Homer and in the French epopees, and that the Greek See also:drama sprang from the sacred choruses of village vintagers. In the great early epics, as in popular ballads, there is the same directness and simplicity, the same use of recurring epithets, the " See also:green grass," the " See also:salt sea," the " shadowy hills," the same repetition of speeches and something of the same barbaric profusion in the use of gold and silver. But these resemblances must not See also:lead us into the See also:mistake of supposing Homer to be a collection of ballads, or that he can be properly translated into ballad See also:metre. The Iliad and the Odyssey are the highest form of an artistic epic, not composed by piecing .together ballads, but See also:developed by a long See also:series of See also:noble Z ouloi, for the benefit of the great houses which entertain them, out of the method and materials of popular song. We have here spoken mainly of romantic ballads, which retain in the refrain a vestige of the custom of singing and dancing; of a See also:period when " dance, song and poetry itself began with a communal consent " (Gummere, The Beginnings of Poetry, p. 93, 19o1). The custom by which a See also:singer in a dancing-circle chants a few words, the dancers chiming in with the refrain, is found by M. Junod among the tribes of Delagoa See also:Bay (Junod, Chantes et conies des Ba Ronga, '897). Other instances are the Australian song-dances (Siebert, in Howitt's Native Tribes of See also:South-See also:East See also:Australia, Appendix 1904; and Dennett, Folk-Lore of the Fiort). We must not infer that even among the See also:aborigines of Australia song is entirely " communal." Known men, inspired, they say, in dreams, or by the All See also:Father, devise new forms of song with dance, which are carried all over the country; and Mr Howitt gives a few examples of individual lyric. The See also:history of the much exaggerated See also:opinion that a whole people, as a people, composed its own ballads is traced by Prof. Gummere in The Beginnings of Poetry, pp. 116-163. Some British ballads retain traces of the early dance-song, and most are so far " communal " in that, as they stand, they have been modified and interpolated by many reciters in various ages, and finally (in The Border Minstrelsy) by Sir See also:Walter Scott, and by hands much weaker than his (see The Young Tamlane). There are cases in which the matter of a ballad has been derived by a popular singer from See also:medieval literary See also:romance (as in the Arthurian ballads), while the author of the romance again usually borrowed, like Homer in the Odyssey, from popular Meirchen of dateless antiquity. It would be an See also:error to suppose that most romantic folk-songs are vulgarizations of literary romance—a view to which Mr See also:Courthope, in his History of English Poetry, and Mr See also:Henderson in The Border Minstrelsy (1902), incline—and the opposite error would be to hold that this process of borrowing from and vulgarization of literary medieval romance never occurred. A See also:good See also:illustration of the true state of the case will be found in Child's introduction to the ballad of Young Beichan,
Gaston Paris, a great authority, holds that early popular poetry is " improvised and contemporary with its facts" (Histoire poelique de See also:Charlemagne). If this dictum be applied to such ballads as " The Bonny See also:Earl o' See also: Even down to 1750, the ballads on Rob See also:Roy's sons are more or less mythopoeic. It seems probable that the existing form of most of our border ballads is not earlier than the generation of 1603-1633, after the See also:union of the crowns. Even when the ballads have been taken from recitation, the reciter has sometimes been inspired by a " See also:stall copy," or printed broadsheet.
AUTnoxrrIES.—The indispensable See also:book for the student of ballads is Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads, published in 1897-1898 (See also:Boston, U.S.A.). See also:Professor Child unfortunately died without summing up his ideas in a separate essay, and they must be sought in his introductions, which have never been analysed. He did not give much attention to such materials for the study of ancient poetry as exist copiously in anthropological See also:treatises. In knowledge of the ballads of all European peoples he was unrivalled, and his biblioraphy of collections of ballads contains some four See also:hundred titles, Child vol. v.. pp. 455-468). ' The most copious ballad makers have been the Scots and English, the See also:German, Slavic, Danish, French and See also:Italian peoples; for the Gaelic there is but one entry, See also: For purely literary purposes the best collection of ballads is Scott's Border Minstrelsy in any See also:complete edition. The best See also:critical modern edition is that of Mr T. F. Henderson; his theory of ballad origins is not that which may be gathered from Professor Child's introductions. (A. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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