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978-1-107-60577-0 - The Ballad in Literature
T. F. Henderson
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The Cambridge Manuals of Science and
Literature
THE BALLAD IN LITERATURE
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978-1-107-60577-0 - The Ballad in Literature
T. F. Henderson
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© in this web service Cambridge University Press
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Cambridge University Press
978-1-107-60577-0 - The Ballad in Literature
T. F. Henderson
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LITERATURE
BY
T. F. HENDERSON
Cambridge:
at the University Press
19 12
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978-1-107-60577-0 - The Ballad in Literature
T. F. Henderson
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© Cambridge University Press 1912
First published 1912
First paperback edition 2011
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reproduction of one used hy the earliest known
Camhridge printer, John Siherch, 152 I
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PREFACE
WITHIN recent years much has been done in the
accumulation of data towards the explication of
that, in some respects, mysterious kind of verse,
known in England as the traditional ballad. In
different countries specimens have been collected and
published in great abundance, and much editorial
learning has been expended in illustrative exposition
and comment. Its distinctive characteristics--so
far as they are preserved in surviving tradition, and
comparatively late MS. and printed exampleshave thus been now as fully disclosed as probably
they will ever be.
In regard to its genesis, its development and the
character of its authorship, we are met, at the outset,
with the difficulty of a lack of direct evidence.
There is no record as to how this species of verse
originated, or as to how it found its way into
different countries. Here we have nothing to guide
us but vague incidental statements and inferences
founded on a variety of considerations which are
still, more or less, subjects of dispute. No very early
v
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VI
THE BALLAD IN LITERATURE
authentic specimens of the ballad survive. All
have been in some degree modified by tradition;
and even the antiquity of the earliest surviving
ballads, the historical as well as the non-historical,
can be determined only approximately.
Still the minute study of other forms of early
verse, and the very comprehensive knowledge we
now possess of the literary characteristics and themes
of the surviving ballad versions of different nations,
have tended to dissipate various erroneous preconceptions, and, on several important points, have
supplied the means of more than plausible conjecture;
and comparison and criticism may still further help
to clear up difficulties, and bring about a more
general agreement of opinion.
The similarities and dissimilitudes between the
ballads of different countries are, in varied ways,
interesting and suggestive, and afford scope for more
extended and minute discussion than was possible
within the limits of this volume. The most pregnant
revelation is the apparent predominance of France,
both in shaping, at least indirectly, the ballad as we
now know it, and in supplying ballad themes. This
predominance extends not merely, as we might expect,
to Britain, or to Northern Italy and Northern Spain,
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PREFACE
vii
but very specially, and more than to Germany, to
Denmark, whether the predominance there be direct
or indirect. This fact alone helps to dissipate some
of the mystery attaching to the origin of the ballad,
and although there is still a good deal that is inexplicable in regard to its beginnings or creation,
and the extension of its vogue in different countries,
further light on the subject may yet be available.
The study of folklore has supplied much interesting
information bearing on ballad themes; but folklore,
if one of the most fascinating, is perhaps one of the
most deceptive forms of learning. It is the happy
hunting ground for the sciolist. It is fruitful in
fallacies for the rash theoriser; and it can hardly be
affirmed that caution has been prominent in folklore
theorizing about the ballad.
On the controversial points touched on in this
volume, I have sought to state the pros and cons as
fairly as I could. I have done my best to appreciate
the views and arguments of those from whom I in
any way differ. In most instances of importance
their opinions are quoted in their own words; and if
I have, in any way, misinterpreted them, it is not
from lack of effort, but lack of ability, to understand
them.
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viii
THE BALLAD IN LITERATURE
The numbers attached in brackets to individual
ballads refer to their sequence in Child's English and
Scottish Ballads, 1882-98. This must ever remain the
standard collection of British ballad versions; and
its careful and minute illustrations, from folklore,
romances, tales, and the ballad versions of other
countries, are beyond praise.
T. F. H.
December 15th, 1911.
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CONTENTS
OHAP.
I.
PAGB
THE LITERARY }4'ORM, CHARACTER AND SOURUES OF
1
THE BALLAD
II.
BALLAD THEMES.
29
Ill.
THE ORIGIN AND AUTHORSHIP OF BALLADS
57
IV.
THE LATER BRITISH BALI,An~
!)7
AUTHORITIES
124
INDEX
125
.
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