Famous Scots Series
'Layés that in harping Ben y-found of ferli thing; Sum beth of wer, and sum of wo, Sum of joye and mirthe also; And sum of treacherie and gile; Of old aventours that fell while; And sum of bourdes and ribaudy; And many ther beth of faëry,-- Of all things that men seth; Maist o...
Ballad poetry is a phrase of elastic and variable meaning. In the national repertory there are Ballads Satirical, Polemical, and Political, and even Devotional and Doctrinal, of...
5. Chapter 5It may look like taking a liberty with the chart of ballad poetry to label as 'romantic' a single province of this kingdom of Old Romance. It is probably not even the most ancie...
4. Chapter 4No scheme of ballad classification can be at all points complete and satisfactory. We have seen that it is impossible to classify the Scottish ballads according to authorship, s...
6. Chapter 6The kindly Scot will not quarrel with the comparative mythologist who tells him that the superstitions embalmed in his ballad minstrelsy are wanderers out of misty times and far...
2. Chapter 2There is probably not a verse, there is scarcely a line, in the existing body of Scottish ballad poetry that can be traced with certainty further back than the sixteenth century...
3. Chapter 3The old ballads were made to be sung; or, at least, to be chanted. An inquiry whether the traditional ballad airs preceded the words, or _vice versâ_, would probably lead us to...
1. Chapter 1'Layés that in harping Ben y-found of ferli thing; Sum beth of wer, and sum of wo, Sum of joye and mirthe also; And sum of treacherie and gile; Of old aventours that fell while;...